Want To Play Matchmaker For Your Friends? There's An App For That

The romance revolution as of late has been going digital, taking out the human and personal element to matters of the heart. Online dating is more of the same, but here's a fun fact; one third of online daters have never actually met in person! Users continue to swipe left or right searching through hundreds of potential partners but usually don't find them.

Technology has made it easier to connect with people superficially, but it's made it difficult to connect on deeper levels of intimacy.

Marni Feuerman, licensed psychotherapist specializing in couples and relationship issues and marriage expert for About.com and YourTango.com, believes that “technology helps us meet people we normally would not come in contact with. It expands your dating pool exponentially! We all want to find that special person. We are wired for this connection.”

Friends used to set friends up with their single friends, but not anymore. Have they been reluctant to play matchmaker due to all these dating apps?

David Cruz from Bravo's The Millionaire Matchmaker believes that it's hard for friends to play matchmaker because “technology and apps make the hunting and gathering of information — Googling, or reading their Facebook or Instagram — easier.” Friends could once set other friends up on a blind date, but that's changed now as “one can decline a friend setting them up just by doing a quick search. It's tough, and friends would rather not even try."

Helping a friend find love through an app is a great technique to have another set of eyes to critique a potential mate.

“At the same time, it can influence a decision away from someone who could be a good match,” says Daryl Cioffi, Psychotherapist/Relationship Coach and Owner of Polaris Counseling And Consulting. Feuerman also agrees with Cioffi, “If an app facilitates this process," she explains, "then I think it's a good idea. Plus, it's your friends helping with this and they usually want the best for you.”

A new dating app, Spritzr, allows your friends to play matchmaker for you via Facebook. No more swiping needed.

The new app hopes to help singles find Mr. or Mrs. Right and author and relationship expert April Masini gives the method, “two thumbs up — or a selfie with two thumbs up!”

Spritzr was started by CEO Manshu Agarwal after he found online dating exhausting. He “looked into the stats behind online dating and found they were horrible. Less than one in four online daters find a relationship, and seven times more time was spent online than actually going on dates.” At the same time, one of his married friends Caroline, would always set him up with friends of hers. Agarwal mentioned that, “although this was a great source of dates, it was kind of awkward and took some effort on Caroline's part to pull it off.”

As such, he thought how he could make matchmaking easy and low pressure so more singles would find quality dates.

Five Facts On Spritzr:

1. Users can sign up for the app either as a dater or matchmaker. If you sign up as a matchmaker and suggest two friends to each other, if there's mutual interest, they are sent notifications and can connect. If one or both aren’t into the match, no notifications are sent.
2. You can get ‘Matchmade’ by a friend with the app even if you aren’t on the app
3. If your friends aren’t helping, try a seasoned matchmaker. Spritzr allows you to choose an option where more ‘experienced’ matchmakers can suggest a match. Three or more matchmakers have to make a suggestion before you see it.
4. Karma points are given to matchmakers that are excelling at setting up their friends. Users can earn either bronze, silver, or gold status and get virtual and real rewards as well as access to Spritzr events.
5. Users can chat within the app once a match has been made. And if you are a bit shy? Don’t worry, Spritzr has pre-made messages if you need some help starting a conversation.

So will friends start to set up their friends again with Spritzr? Only time will tell.

"Apps like Spritzr make being a 'Matchmaker Friend’ easy because it marries the technology and the people who know you best together. Nobody knows you more than your closest friends, so why not use the best of both worlds to find you love!” says Cruz. Adelle Gomelsky, Matchmaker at Three Day Rule in Los Angeles also states that friends may have an "innate desire to want to set up their friends."

Friends, it's now up to you to sign up for the app. Make connections. Become a Sprtizr matchmaker!

Find Jarone Ashkenazi here: @JaroneAsh