Is this the future of online dating?

Hitch.me is the first and only dating platform for LinkedIn users. The founder of Hitch.Me, Naveed Nadir, has banked on the assumption that single people professionals will deem LinkedIn as a credible source for acceptable partners. You’ll find none of that shady business like you would on some of those other dating sites because, of course, everyone on LinkedIn has got to be a nice and decent individual. And since everyone on LinkedIn is a super-smart business guy or gal (or someone unemployed who’s looking for a job), everybody’s got a healthy paycheck, too.

Take a look at Hitch.me’s video. Amusing, but kinda pushing the “everyone on LinkedIn went to fancy schools and owns fancy things!” deal:

So, how does it work?

All you have to do is visit Hitch.me and sign in with your LinkedIn profile. Once you sign in, you’re prompted to fill out a personal profile, which doesn’t require much:

• Your birthday
• Personality (which includes shy, social, confident, reserved, insecure, extrovert, introvert and adventurous)
• Your education
• Your ethnicity
• Your religion
• Your marital status
• If you have children or not
• If you’re a smoker
• If you’re a drinker
• What you’re interested in (a casual date, a soul mate, a friend, a business partner)
• About me (under 500 characters)
• My perfect match (under 500 characters)
• My perfect date
• Financial details (income, net worth and vehicle make)

There’s no monthly fee, but it works on a credit system. These credits are required in order to unlock profiles and communicate with other Hitch.me users. Once you sign up, you get 200 credits, and you can get 100 more credits per person that signs up via the link you post on your social networks. (And who, may I ask, will post that?) You can also pay $10 for 300, $25 for 1,000 and $50 for 2,500 additional credits.

Here’s the breakdown for what it takes to interact:

• 20 credits to unlock a profile or send a smile (without words)
• 50 credits to send a pitch (250 characters)
• 100 credits to send a presentation (private images and videos)

I see the value in this, don’t get me wrong. It sure skips the step of Googling someone, and I do consider LinkedIn a better source for (hopefully) truthful information.

But Hitch.me just seems like yet another site that will have the same weirdo people that happen to have a business profile. The world is a bizarre place -let’s be real, crazies/losers/creepers/jerkfaces exist everywhere – even on LinkedIn! <gasp!> Plus, there are a few things that could be helpful – an explanation of how Hitch.me matches you and the ability to set location limitations. However, seeing as Nadir only launched this site yesterday, I’m sure there are some additions to come. However, among other things,

Bottom line – there are a few things that separate Hitch.me from all of the other dating sites, but not much. Just because you are using a LinkedIn profile, your dating prospects aren’t that much more appealing. I say it’s worth a try…because I’m just interested in hearing you dish about it!