Have you ever been on the receiving end of this question. Hey can you get me a date? Seth Menachem has. He decided to “Fix” the problem by creating a rather unique site.
Www.mysinglepeeps.com. The idea is simple tell people about your single peeps and hopefully they will get a hook up. Seth joins me in this Candid Convention to talk about the new way to match make.
Cliff T. Seth thanks for jumping in on this topic. I never would have thought someone would put such a site up on the net.
Seth M: I’m glad you like it. Wait, you’re saying you like it, right?
Cliff T.: I love the concept, obviously having so many peeps, as you call them, asking for a date drove you to set up the site. What was the tipping point or was there a particular peep that finally drove you to go online with this idea?
Seth M: I have a lot of single friends—and they all ask me for advice. I write some of their dating profiles and help them respond to emails. But that’s when they’re being proactive. Often, they’re frustrated by the difficulty in meeting a great person to date. So one night, while deciding what to write about next, I got a text from a friend lamenting his single status. I decided then and there if they’re not going to do something about, I would. So I started writing bios of my friends—I wanted them to be real—the kind of stuff they wouldn’t say about themselves, while also reading funny, and charming. I thought of a name for the site, put the first one on a blog, and posted a link to it on Facebook at around midnight. By early the next morning I was flooded with comments and emails.
Cliff T.: How did your single friends react when they found out you were posting about them?
Seth M: I started with Yitzy. He’s my best friend, and I knew he would go along for the ride when he saw what I did. He loved it. So did the girls who wrote to him. Soon I was getting requests from people to write about them.
Cliff T.: From what I read the idea is simple. A post is put up about a peep on the mysinglepeeps.com site not by the peep but, by the person who is a friend of the peep. Then any responses are forwarded by you to the person who the post is about. I would assume some like the idea, others do not. How do you deal with the ones who say uh this is not what I need from my friends?
Seth M: Well, that’s a newer idea. Initially I would write about everyone. A couple of local papers hired me to write about strangers for them so I started building the site that way. But I knew it was limited. So I created a way for people to write about their friends and add them to the site. I’m not a techy so it’s a bit glitchy right now. Hopefully I can find someone to volunteer to help me with the tech part of the site as it needs it.
Cliff T.: I am assuming that the majority do not mind the posting how often do you get asked to remove a person?
Seth M: It’s happened a couple of times. One friend got engaged and said it was time to come off of the site, rather than simply writing TAKEN across his picture. The other was someone who was very happy with her profile—she took the jokes in stride, and thought she looked good—but she is from a conservative Persian community and she got a lot of flack from them to take it down. I felt badly for her that the pressure from her community was so strong, but she didn’t feel it was worth the problems it caused, so I removed her from the site.
Cliff T.: Is the gender ratio the same or are they're more of one sex than the other who get on the site?
Seth M: I’m guessing it skews more female heavy, as they seem to be more open to the experience.
Cliff T.: It's a question begging to be answered, have you ever found out that a peep is still married?
Seth M: There are a few who are married—and if I wasn’t directly involved, I was tangentially involved. For example, one friend dated a girl, and when they saw they weren’t a match, she began dating his friend. They’re now happily married. Or at least married. How do I know how happy they are?
Cliff T.: For the most part I am assuming here that the site is for men and women seeking each other out. But, do people of other sexual orientations get posted on mysinglepeeps.com?
Seth M: I have gay peeps, as well. Take a look. One of my first gay peeps was Rex Lee, a great guy, and a talented actor, who was extremely revealing to me in his profile.
Cliff T.: Seth it sounds like you have a lot of fun with mysinglepeeps.com I bet maintaining the site keeps you pretty busy?
Seth M: It does. Too busy, to be honest. I just took a break from writing for the papers as the weekly columns were getting to be too much, while still balancing my acting and writing career, and my family. I have two kids—one and three—and that alone will tire someone out. So I’ll keep posting peeps when I have time, and the site is still open to other people who want to put up profiles on their single friends.
Cliff T.: Well I want to thank you for sharing the story behind mysinglepeeps.com.
Seth M: You’re welcome. Thanks for reaching out!
Seth Menachem is the man behind
www.mysinglepeeps.com you can visit the site and check out the peeps that are on it out for yourself or post a peep and of course find a peep yourself.
For more information about Seth Menachem himself visit his page at
http://www.sethmenachem.com.
Seth
Menachem wrote us from Los Angeles California.
