fasDate.com: The Next Big Thing?

Harvard students are some of the most technologically savvy people in the world. We’ve got our iPhones, Blackberries, and Twitters to keep track of every piece of information we would ever need to know—even the Q Guide is going completely digital! It’s only logical that the next step would be to try to find love online. That’s where new online dating website, www.fasDate.com, comes in. The site was launched on April 2^nd as a place for “smart users to find love.” Although fasDate does not stand for Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the name, an acronym for “find-a-smart-date,” may elicit a chuckle from you computer-savvy programmers out there as written in CamelCase. More details after the jump.

Unlike other online dating sites such as match.com or eHarmony, fasDate is completely free. Users can also instant message and video-chat each other, as well as create groups and blogs. Founder Andrew Lach believes that because of fasDate’s community of users, innovative software, and free price tag, it will soon break down the negative stigma surrounding online dating. “I think that in the future, rather soon, that to not use the internet to meet people will seem a little outdated,” he said.

So who is considered a “smart user?” As the web site claims, “To us, being smart is defined by behavior, not education or IQ.” Still, Lach is targeting Harvard students and other Boston-area students with an aggressive flyer campaign.

Lach, 32, attended Vanderbilt and has lived in Boston for the last ten years, where he has worked at the Human Genome Project and the Harvard-MIT Broad Institute. Although he is happily married, he says he created the site because he remembers what it was like to be looking for that special someone.

One thing FlyBy has kind of omitted: The site currently only has seven users.....but you could be next! As Lach claims, “Everyone’s standing around the pool waiting to dive in.” After all, what have you got to lose?

Photo: Wikimedia Commons