April 10th was the night of our big debut at the “Geek Goes Chic” party we co-hosted with TechCrunch and PopSugar, at the Vanguard in Hollywood. But we weren’t just there to be social butterflies, dear readers!

We were on a mission to introduce the world to the new Engage. Plus, we hoped to help some genial geeks connect with the chic social mavens of their dreams. And vice-versa. (Turns out hotties dream about geeks as great relationship material. Our recent Romancing the Geek survey showed that 82% of women and 72% of men were into geeks — and would even choose silicon valley entrepreneurs over hollywood stars as potential mates!)

Whether you considered yourself a Geek, part of the Chic, or just aren’t into labels, there was something for everyone at this gathering. And Engage staffers were on the loose to Play Matchmaker™ with members of the crowd, bringing people together in the real world the way we do online. 

Here’s a clip of TechCrunch blogger Michael Arrington interviewing our very own VP of Love Trish McDermott and our CEO Suneet Wadhwa. Don’t they look glam in white?

You can also check out our flickr stream for photos from the event. See if you can spot the Engage staffers as they demo Engage and fix up people in the crowd.

As a member of Princess Cruise’s Romance Department, today I helped crown father of four and minister Phil Roberts, of Lexington, KY as the “Greatest Romantic” contest winner. The Romance Department at Princess, also including intimacy expert, Dr. Ruth Westheimer; ABC’s original “Bachelor,” Alex Michel; actor Gavin MacLeod (he played Captain Stubing on “The Love Boat) and destination wedding expert Lisa Light, nominated the five most romantic videos from the more than one hundred videos submitted in the contest.  More than eight thousand members of the public then selected Mr. Roberts in a final vote.  

 Check out his winning video.  It’s a story, in the form of a poem recited by his three-year-old daughter, about an everyday man who understands how to sweep a woman off her feet in a lovingly spectacular manner.  While he certainly knows how to pull off a perfect wedding proposal, I nominated Roberts because his romantic nature has stood the test of both time and tragedy in his ten-year relationship. That’s the kind of romance that makes me swoon.

Most of our love lives are not the makings of a major motion pictures, nor are they fodder for a romance novel.  They are ordinary, sometimes difficult, often surprising and occasionally hilarious moments pieced lovingly together by acts of generosity, compassion, insight, kindness and inspiration.  While larger-than-life romantic extravaganzas are the memorable love stories many of us will one day pass on to our children, everyday romance is the glue that keeps a couple together. 

What is everyday romance?  Whatever you and your partner need it to be.  Sometimes romance is a smile to break through a relationship’s momentary challenges that might otherwise get us all hung up.  It’s an unexpected gift when there is no occasion.  It’s a public pledge of love, made to a group of people, as in: “This is the woman I love.” It’s an extra few moments in bed, a longer-than-usual kiss goodbye or a slightly seductive note slipped into his briefcase.

Whether you are dating or happily taken, small acts of romance should be part of your everyday life.  Check out Susan Mernit’s blog, Finding Acts of Love that Really Matter.  Along with romantic poems you can read to your love and funny DVD’s the two of you can enjoy together, she shares romantic ideas that can help make all of us great romantics, not just on Valentine’s Day, but every day.  

Even romance experts have to remember to practice romance in their own love lives, so I’m off to buy a gift for no particular reason.

Warm, romantic fuzzies to everyone,

Trish McDermott, VP of Love at Engage

April 10th is our big night out! We’ll be at the Vanguard in Hollywood for “Geek Goes Chic,” a party we’re throwing with the technology bloggers at TechCrunch and the celebrity gossip mavens at PopSugar.

We’ll be showing off the brand new Engage service that we unveiled this week. Have you tried it?

Plus, Alex Michel, the first bachelor from ABC’s “The Bachelor,” and our very own VP of Love, Trish McDermott, will be on hand to help connect the Geeks to the Chic at the event.

Our recent “Romancing the Geek” survey shows that Geeks might inherit the Earth after all, at least in the romantic department. Our survey showed that 82% of people are open to dating a “Geek”, and 72% said they’d be happier in a marriage with a famous Silicon Valley geek than a Hollywood celebrity. Great news for you smart and technology-savvy types!

We’ll share pictures and more party news soon!

Hugs and kisses,

Engage

We’re getting attention for the new version of Engage that we unveiled yesterday.

Kristen Nicole on Mashable noticed:

“Engage is one of those sites seeking better recommendation tools for hooking you up in a genuine, non-contrived manner…”

Thanks Kristen! Read her complete article about our new site and our fun approach to social dating.

You can also check our press release about the launch.

Updated: Read what the Silicon Valley/San Jose BusinessJournal said about us today.

Another update: We also made the Silicon Valley Wire. Read it here.

Our engineering team did all their abracadabra stuff and we’re back up with a brand new version of our service. Sign in now to try all the new social dating goodness.

Here’s a peek at what we’ve added and improved:

• Fresh Faces - These are prospects for you (if you’re single) and/or your single friends (if you’re playing matchmaker for others). Click ‘em, consider ‘em, keep them in your suggestions list, tell friends about them, or decide they’re not right and move on. It’s verrrrry addictive to click through all the faces.

• Suggested for you… Shows you people that your friends want you to meet.

• Suggestions for friends… Shows you who your single friends are considering. Do they seem worthy of your friends’ attention? You get to add the human intuition ingredient and decide whether people are worth pointing out.

• Voting - Everyone likes to get a second opinion about possible matches before they make a move. Now you get to vote on suggested matches for your friends to help them decide what to do next.

• Social Feed - In keeping with our extra-social theme, we’ve added a personal news ticker that tells you what your friends are up to on Engage. You can use it to inform your friends about your activities. Just answer “What are you up to?” to write a personalized news feed message.

• Social Feed email - To help you catch up with your pals, you’ll get a daily summary of all the stuff your friends have been up to. Who made suggestions? Who got introduced? Who voted Yes on suggestions you made? Keep your eyes peeled for this email to find out.

• Social Points - We love to play, so we’ve made Engage even more like a game. Social Points reward you for doing things that make the community more fun for everyone. If you’re already a member of Engage, you already have some points. Sign in to check out your score!

You’ll also notice fewer tabs and more ways to connect with friends sprinkled all over the site.

So go have fun with it and get social! Let us know how it goes.

Hugs and kisses,

Engage

That means the site’s going to be down for a bit while we unfurl a spiffy new version. We plan to be away until 8:30pm or so. (We’ll update you if that changes.)

Sorry to make you wait — but it’s going to be totally worth it when you see our new ways to get social, Play Matchmaker^TM, connect with friends, and meet new people.

See you later tonight? It’s a date!

Hi friends!

Engage made the news today. (Don’t mind if we toot our own horn.) We were featured on Fox’s Morning Show with Mike and Juliet.

M & J ran a great segment that showed how much fun everyone can have when friends and family play matchmaker for each other. The show did a great job showing how friendly matchmakers can weed out fakes and phonies — and make it more fun to connect to new people when you’re single. Well, we knew that. But we love it when others catch on!

Did you see Engage on TV this morning? What did you think?

xo,

Engage

Sometimes it’s a good idea to get involved in your friends’ social lives. Here’s why:

Social dating is a new name for an age-old practice: friends helping friends connect.

That means anyone can hand-pick people for their friends to date — and then watch what happens when they meet!

When you play wingwoman or wingman for your pals you can help them break the ice, offer dating advice, share their excitement when they meet someone new, and gab together about all the possibilities.

Whether you’re involved and you want to give your single friends a nudge to meet new people and see what happens — or you’re single and want a low-pressure, fun way to connect to new people — we think social dating makes finding a relationship fun, real, and like no other online experience.

When you Play Matchmaker^TM you get to connect your friends to people who are worthy of their attention. Plus — let’s be honest — it’s fun to see who your friends are thinking about dating.

Picture yourself at a party. You see a guy or gal across the room. S/he has a quirky grin that makes you think, “Perfect for my best friend M____.”

What’s your next step? Start chatting. Suss out whether this person merits your best pal’s affection. If what you hear sounds promising, you’ll casually mention your super-amazing, brilliant BFF who just happens to be available…

Then, when your BFF happens to walk by, you’ll introduce them. You all start talking. They start laughing. And then at some point you slip away and leave those two wrapped up in engaging conversation.

What happens next is up to them. But you’ll definitely be hearing about it. We get goosebumps just thinking about the possibilities!

Engage’s “Play Matchmaker^TM” features work just the same as this real world scenario, only the fun is multiplied across your entire social network.

With social dating, friends connect through friends they already know.

Today’s busy single people meet new people when they least expect it - at dinner parties, professional events, and friends’ weddings. And more often than not, these chance encounters start with a casual introduction from a mutual friend.

Social dating on Engage brings this playful way of making connections to the Web, together with all of the enjoyment that comes with a friend’s advice, suggestions, good judgment, and experience — so you can have fun exploring an attraction before you move to meeting offline.

Single people multiply their chances to meet someone new.

Engage makes it easy to connect to new people who are once or twice removed from your immediate social circle. That means you’re casting a wider net, but staying within a chain of people who trust each other’s recommendations and taste.

Engage also lets you connect to completely new people that your friends deem worthy for you. You or your matchmaking pals can consult another single person’s matchmaking wingpeople to find out what you have in common. If it seems like you two would be a dynamic duo, your friends can make an introduction that you’ll both welcome!

Everyone has more fun and single people get better results.

Because social dating introductions happen through real people, singles are more likely to hear back from people they’re introduced to — so they can see where an attraction goes and get a definitive outcome, instead of waiting for an email reply that never comes. Engage members are 80% more likely to reply to an email from someone they’ve met through their community, as compared to a stranger. That means less time wasted, more people to discover, and more opportunities for fun.

Social context keep things real.

Whether you meet through friends at a dinner party, connect through an old co-worker, or rediscover each other at a reunion, meeting socially gives you a preview of what someone is really like before you spend any time with that person one-on-one. Why should meeting online be any different?

With social dating on Engage you can get someone’s back story, find out what their friends love about them, and get a full picture of who they are before you decide to introduce them to someone you know or to try to connect to them yourself! Overall it’s more fun for the people who Play Matchmaker^TM and way less pressure for the people who want to date.

So in our humble opinion, it’s all good!

Hugs and kisses,
Engage

Whether you’re here to Play Matchmaker™ for single friends or to connect to new people for yourself, we ask all of our members to create a profile. Here are nine ways to make your profile stand out from the crowd!

1. Make a good first impression. Your profile is a way of introducing yourself to people. What do you want them to take away? Humor, humility, and optimism are always in style. Most people want to spend time with someone who’s upbeat and fun to be around.
2. Grab their attention with a creative headline or an interesting story. What makes you different from everyone else? What pursuits make you happy? If someone dated you, how would you want to spend time with them? Or if you fixed up friends how would you help them decide who to date?
3. Don’t complain. Mama always said, if you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all. And she’s probably right when it comes to exes. If you really feel compelled to share, your best bet is to briefly mention the bad breakup and then talk about how you’ve moved forward and turned lemons into lemonade. Or explain how your experience made you even better at Playing Matchmaker™, because now you’ve loved and learned.
4. Do be honest. One of the biggest complaints single people have about traditional online dating is that some of the profiles are kind of shady and inauthentic. With social dating everyone’s friends are on hand to keep them more honest about their age, looks, and dating history. So we can all be real here, right? Celebrate who you are!
5. Focus, people. Focus. You don’t have to throw in the kitchen sink (and the microwave and the toaster). Just mention the three or four most important qualities you bring to the party. Think about giving people enough information to discover that they have some things in common with you. Or that you sound like a great match for their cousin or coworker or neighbor. Then you can learn more about each other over time.
6. Check your spelling and get a trusted friend to edit what you’ve written. If you’re stumped about what to write, ask a friend how they would describe you to a stranger. You might be surprised at their insights about you!
7. Do take time to post a quality picture. What does that mean? Include one good head shot that’s in focus, with nice lighting. Then add extra pictures that show all the sides of your personality- on a camping trip, on the dance floor, running a half-marathon, walking your Welsh Corgi, knitting an iPod cover, hanging streamers for a charity fundraiser… Show yourself off!
8. Don’t take the picture yourself. Here’s another place where friends come in handy. You know that weird camera angle you get when you hold your arm out and shoot your own portrait? Yeah. We do too! Whether you’re here to Play matchmaker or to connect to new people yourself, it will improve your credibility to look decent in your picture.
9. Let your honesty extend to your photo. It may be tempting, but don’t post a six-year-old picture of you playing drinking games in college — no matter how sassy you look! Your friends love you for who you are now - and new people will too!

Hugs and kisses,
Engage

You use Engage. You use Facebook. You’ve got friends on both. Now you can share Engage profiles on your Facebook profile, so you can Play Matchmaker^TM even when you’re away from Engage. It’s like those old Reese’s peanut butter cup ads: “You got your Engage in my Facebook!” Delicious!

Here’s how to do it:

1. Sign in to Engage.
2. Pick a friend on Engage that you want to fix up or connect with your Facebook friends.
3. On the friend’s Engage profile, in the “More” drop-down list, select “Share to Facebook.”
4. You’ll be taken to Facebook’s sign in page and asked to write a comment about the picture.
5. Repeat until all your single friends have met someone fun and new!

What’s The Point?
To get your social network to make new connections and fix up even more of your single friends. That’s what social dating is all about!

Hugs and kisses,
Engage