Harvard undergrads still do this every year, just within Harvard. It’s called Datamatch and it’s run by HCS (Harvard Computing Society). Very cute that all of the individuals from the CNN short documentary ended up with another. Also hilarious that Jeff’s daughter ended up marrying the co-founder of OkCupid. Not sure which one of those was the surprise.
The Takei video wasn’t particularly enlightening, but I wasn’t expecting it to be (even high production YouTube videos usually aren’t).
I really loved the algorithm video. I think that it’s important that these terms, which often are made to be technical when they shouldn’t be, are accessible to wide audiences. An “algorithm” is too often seen as impossible to understand to anyone but a math major, but as the video explains, it’s remarkably simple.
I’m not entirely sure that a computerized approach makes much significant difference to the process, at this point (hold the Machine Learning, which could in the future make it the case). I think that I would prefer the computerized approach simply because it meant that I could abdicate control over what is a rather daunting task. I think others would prefer the same, but perhaps because they think that the mechanized approach could assist. I think the elements that should be included are photo, religious belief, location, and a one sentence answer to “where do you want to end up?”
I’ve never used online dating, because I’ve been dating my partner since a time that predates the popularization of online dating for our generation. The stigmas of online dating seem to be lessening, at least in my age group possibly because it has become popularized for the age group. Getting physically hurt or meeting someone who was deceiving about their profile was the previous stigma, but the former seems to be lessened and the latter is combated by tying one’s Facebook account to their dating site.
I think appearance is the bar for online dating (something that’s cursorily important), and then the rest of the iceberg is personality and other intangible matches. As a response to the question, I don’t think it’s at all strange to make money from matchmaking.