Meeting on the Line ; Site Connects Dates Via Cell

By KRISTEN A. LEE, STAFF WRITER

Anyone who has tried Internet dating knows that meeting someone online is easy. The difficulty is in moving the encounter off-line. If you’re tired of attempting to type your way into someone’s heart, a new Saddle Brook-based dating service, Zogo.com, may be for you.

Zogo.com, a free site that launched in October, offers the same profile searches available on other online dating sites, with an important bonus – it hooks its users up by cellphone.

“Chemistry is definitely in the voice,” says Jonathan Ressler, Zogo’s CEO.

Zogo member Gary Weisman, an executive for a contracting company in Teterboro, agrees. He has used Match.com and JDate in the past and says some members misrepresented themselves over e-mail and instant message.

“A voice is far more telling,” he said. And rather than spending weeks exchanging e-mails, Zogo offers the chance for a more immediate connection.

After creating a profile on Zogo.com, singles can search for potential matches by age, body type and ethnicity. An advanced search feature allow members to further narrow their preferences by hair color, religion, education, drinking and smoking habits, and employment status.

Once you find a profile that interests you, just click a button to send that person a text message inviting him or her to chat by phone. When he or she opens the text message, your photo and profile will appear. If the person is interested, it takes just one more click to connect you to his or her cellphone. “I don’t have to wait for them to respond to mail a week later,” Weisman said.

Better yet, Zogo offers a “prowling” function that alerts members to other singles who are out on the town and looking to meet someone right away.

So if you’re out on the Lower East Side and want to meet someone new, just activate your prowling feature through your cellphone. Enter your location by choosing from a selection of New York neighborhoods or typing your ZIP code. Zogo will tell you which other members are also “on the prowl” in your area. If someone interests you, just send that person a text message and ask him or her to meet up for a drink or a cup of coffee.

Weisman used the prowling feature to meet a Zogo member while out with friends in New York City. “She was out with a couple of friends and I was out with friends and we had a great time,” he said.

Right now, Zogo is targeting singles in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. In January, the service will go national.

The service works best with Web-enabled cellphones, but can also work with simple text-messaging. And because the calls are connected through Zogo, neither person’s personal phone number will be displayed during the conversation. If there is no chemistry, either party can end the conversation quickly without worry of a call- back.

Ressler says that a disadvantage of other online dating sites is that to meet off-line, someone has to be willing to give out his or her phone number. Zogo allows singles to try a phone conversation without the risk of giving their digits to a stranger. “That’s a huge leg up on Internet dating,” he said.

Ressler said that the service can be used by those looking for a “meaningful one-night relationship” as well as those looking for love. But what Zogo members have in common is that they “don’t want to hide behind their computer screen.”

With its bold approach, Zogo is clearly not for shy or tentative daters. But members say that Zogo offers a more casual way to meet other singles than through the Internet, where the process of meeting online, exchanging phone numbers and making a date are slower and burdened with high expectations for love.

Members like Weisman say that forming friendships through Zogo can be just as much fun as finding romance.

“I haven’t had a romance out of it, so to speak,” Weisman said, “but I’ve met some nice people.”

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E-mail: leekr@northjersey.com

(SIDEBAR, page G28)

Zogo.com

WHAT IS IT? A free site that offers the same profile searches available on other online dating sites, with one key difference: It hooks its users up by cellphone.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Create a profile and search Zogo.com for potential dates. If you find a profile that interests you, click a button to send a text message to that person’s cellphone inviting him or her to chat. If the person is interested, it takes just one more click to connect you to his or her cellphone. A “prowling” function also can alert members to other singles who are out and about and looking to meet someone right away in their vicinity.

WHO BENEFITS? Not for the tentative or shy. For those seeking a more casual way to meet people than through the Internet, where the process of exchanging phone numbers and setting up a date is slower.