Jess, Meet Ken introduces a new way to date online
Credit: jessmeetken.com
You’ve got a guy friend. He’s great—funny, charming, attractive and smart—just not a great fit for you, romantically-speaking.
Or maybe you’ve ridden through the online dating rodeo a few more times than you care to admit, and you just can’t figure out why, despite all of the algorithms and settings optimized to help you find a perfect match, you haven’t.
If either of those sound familiar, it’s time to become acquainted with Jess, Meet Ken, a new online dating site that works exclusively on a referral basis.
The concept is simple, yet smart: women are allowed to create profiles for men they consider catch-worthy, and in the process, eliminate the odds of a guy acting creepy (hello, OkCupid) by personally vouching for their picks. Once the man’s been vetted for—Facebook adds an additional layer of security—the profile goes live, creating a potential opportunity for other women (who are allowed to create accounts for themselves, too) to happily browse and contact at will. Oh, and it’s free, at least for the time being.
Jess, Meet Ken’s tagline is “It’s how we met,” and as you might guess, it’s how the site’s founder, Ken, met his wife, Jess, when a mutual friend introduced them on a now-defunct dating site almost a decade ago. And based on the turnout at Jess, Meet Ken’s launch party last week (a fete organized by yours truly), and on the recent attention the site’s gained in the media, I’d say Jess, Meet Ken is on track to become a serious contender against the plethora of dating services that can fail to deliver something personal.
(Sorry, guys: you can’t create your own profiles just yet. But you can ask your female friends to sign you up.)
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