The evergrowing number of dating websites has made it difficult to decide which one to join. Since the majority of the sites are open to anyone with Internet access, it can be somewhat frightening to try to get to know a stranger.
But people looking for romance don’t have to venture too far beyond their comfort zone with Date My School, an online platform to help students and alumni discover new but not completely foreign people. DMS is not just for finding dates, but shares characteristics with other popular social networks.
Columbia University students Jean Meyer and Balazs Alexa created DMS after experiencing difficulty connecting with other students in their department. The site launched at Columbia University Nov. 2010 and within a week had almost 1,300 members sign up. DMS was only open to Columbia University students until Dec. 2010 when NYU was added to the database.
DMS has since branched out to over 350 schools and on Aug. 17, launched N.C . State’s access to the network. The site now has over 31,000 members.
Users may set up their profile to be as private or as public as they choose. The site contains a private inbox and instant messaging features. DMS also allows users to “Like” someone, which is a flirty hint, “Save” someone, which adds them to the users favorites, and notifies the user when others are online. Users can also post messages on others’ profiles.
DateMySchool is different from other dating websites in the sense of its requirements for membership. According to DMS’s public relations representative, Melanie Wallner , only students and alumni with active school email accounts may join the site. This allows users to feel safer when interacting with other users.
“DMS is the safest online platform worldwide,” Wallner said.
The site’s advanced privacy settings grants exclusivity to active students and alumni and users can control what databases their profile is placed in. DMS users are also unable to be searched for through Google, giving users anonymity.
“I like the idea that it is exclusive to college students and I feel that it would be a potential interest to me,” Kela Farmer, a senior in communication, said.
The unique feature about DMS is the new demographic created to target students and alumni who are looking for something other than romance.
“It’s a reversed social network, showing you people you don’t know but can trust,” Wallner said.
The filtering functions on the site allow users to find people that have similar interests and goals. If a user only wants to make friends, they can select that option in the search section and be linked to other users who only want to make friends. The same goes for users who want study partners or those who want romance.
“Users only see people they want to contact and who want to be contacted by you,” Wallner said.
Lauren Allen, a senior in communications said she would use the site.
“It sounds like a cool way to meet people around campus, with your similar interests,” Allen said.
Universities in the surrounding area also connected on the DMS network include: Duke, Elon , UNC , UNC-Charlotte , UNC-Greensboro , UNC-Wilmington and Wake Forest.
For users that don’t want their friends to know they’re a part of the site, a profile access limit is available for use. This will block the user’s page from people they already know.
DMS has an extremely rapid turnover rate. According to Wallner , many members have gotten dates within 30 minutes of creating a profile.
“A few people have even gotten married,” Wallner said. “One couple met through the site and got married 10 days later.”
