How does JeanDating work?

How are you matching us?

I, Jean, am matching you based on my pattern-matching skills! I have an actual other job, so I’m not spending all day matching you. That said, I’m pretty good at processing large volumes of information and I’m extremely good at texting, so I firmly believe I’m better than any algorithm. I’ll match you within the constraints of geography and age. My questions are pretty free-form (what works; what doesn’t work; what’s your ideal Zoom date), but what people say (and how they say it) have told me a lot about them. If you want to vet the people, just select the “Check with me” option.

How much information are you revealing to my matches?

Before matching, I use social media links that you provided and I’ll also use photos available to me via said social media. After matching, I debrief with each of my JeanDaters for the sake of the experiment, but I try my best to avoid revealing this information across my debriefs. (I am a busy person and do not have time to be your go-between!)

I got matched. Now what?

Set up a time for a Zoom video call ASAP. You can try out the text banter a little bit, but what else do either of you have to do? As of Day Two, the median time-to-date was 1-2 days. Some dates took place within hours of the introduction!

What should I expect for my first Zoom date?

I’d recommend scheduling it for 30 minutes and planning for it to go (up to hours!) longer. I”ll leave it up to you to structure it. Some ideas:

• A first date in a location always has at least one piece of shared context: the location itself. A first date on video has zero context. Come prepared with a fun fact, a fun story, and/or a fun Zoom background.

• I think it would be super fun to coordinate Zoom backgrounds!

• If you want to get deep, try working through these questions for falling in love.

• You might want to think beforehand about two things: 1) what to do when there is a lull in conversation and there’s no external stimuli and 2) the ending procedure of the date (since there is no waiter to bring a check). Let me know if you come up with good tricks!

I had a great first Zoom date. Now what?

Ah, the Zoom second date. IRL, you’d progress to increasingly higher time-commitment activities, but what does that look like virtually? Here are some suggestions a few friends helped me put together:

• Dinner and a movie can still happen over Zoom!

  Make something! Make art. Make pizza. Make cookies. Make music.

• Go on a virtual tour of a physical space together. Here’s a good starting list. You can also take a virtual hike!

• Play a virtual game together.

• Go on separate walks and talk to each other about what you’re experiencing.

• Bring the other person as a date to a Zoom event with friends!

Please do not meet the person before you Zoom for the first time. Also, please make sure you take the appropriate precautions with social distancing if you decide to meet in person.

I’m not interested in my match. What’s the etiquette?

You’re going to tell me in great detail what didn’t work when I ask for feedback so I can match you better matches, but I’m not going to relay this information back to your match. If your match asks you for a follow-up Zoom and you are not interested, a polite, “Thank you, but I think we’re better off as friends who don’t Zoom” should suffice.

What are you doing with my data?

I run a data privacy company when I’m not working on this project—and I’m surprised how much data everybody is giving me. I’m using the data only to help me determine the matches—I don’t reveal the profile information even to potential matches. The data stays within Google forms and spreadsheets. I’m not going to sell the data.