Genius Idea: So long as love, relationships, and the Internet exist, there will be online dating. It’s a multi-billion dollar market, and while it’s done a lot of good for thousands, if not millions of couples, it’s still very inefficient, as we highlighted in HOW TO: Get More Responses in Online Dating.

Gelato is targeting this problem, and it’s doing it with social media integration. The service describes itself as “the FriendFeed (FriendFeed) of dating” because it pulls in your social media data from a variety of services in real-time in order to help you find your perfect match.

The first step in Gelato dating is to sign in with Facebook (Facebook) or Twitter (Twitter) (you can add these profiles, plus Netflix, Last.fm, and others later). Once you do that, you can import your information and go on the dating hunt.

What makes Gelato unique is its filtering and targeting ability. You can not only filter to find members of the opposite sex in a specific age range, but only ones that talk about video games, or are at the conference you’re at, etc. You can then view their profile, send them messages, and view their imported pictures.


This is a great twist to the online dating scene. Along with Thread, it is innovating in the dating space. It makes dating easier and perhaps, more likely to be successful.

Spark of Genius Series Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark

BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the Azure Services platform for their website hosting and storage needs. Microsoft recently announced the “new CloudApp()” contest – use the Azure Services Platform for hosting your .NET or PHP (PHP) app, and you could be the lucky winner of a USD 5000* (please see website for official rules and guidelines).”