Where traditional dating and online dating meet

I think I've mentioned before that my preferred method of meeting potential dates is through friends. That way, at least somebody's vouching for them and you know they're probably not a psycho (and I stress the probably...because we've all been burned by our matchmakers, right?). So I thought it was kind of cool that someone thought to combine my preferred method and the method I usually have to resort to in one place.

Engage.com is, according to the Web site, "where dating gets social." The cool kids over at TechCrunch explain it better than I could:

Engage differentiates itself from traditional dating sites (Match, eHarmony, PlentyofFish, etc) by getting friends involved in the process of finding you that perfect guy or gal. If you are looking for love (and Engage is certainly geared towards those looking to land serious relationships, not set up transitory encounters), you can invite your real-life friends to become friends on Engage. Once onboard, they sit in a friends list that stays with you on the left-hand side of the site wherever you go.

Or, if pictures are more your thing:

(Courtesy of Engage.com)


I don't know about you, but I think this is an extraordinarily good idea. I've signed up but have yet to build out my friends list, so I'll keep you updated as to how it works.