Can Flip-Me Cards Get Us A Date? We Put Them To The Test

The ever-expanding dating market never tires of its gimmicks, and FlipMe.com might be the industry's latest wrinkle invented to bring folks together. Picture it: you're sipping an espresso at a coffee shop when a stranger drops a card on your table. On its front, a simple and mysterious phrase: "I'm flirting with you" "You're too good for a cocktail napkin" "With this card, I thee break the ice." You get the idea.

On the back, a flipme.com URL, a member id and card id. It's here—assuming the card receiver creates a FlipMe profile, too—that the pursuer and pursued can connect, online dating-style, once the receiver sends a message.

Now about these profiles: unlike other dating sites where a user's page can be downright elaborate, FlipMe.com's model is almost too clean. Users are allowed a name, one picture, and a 150-word conversation starter. That's it. This is interesting considering it doesn't give much of a chance to feel each other out. I guess that's what the messaging is for, but what would be a person's incentive with so little information to work off? Online Dating: Everything You Need To Know

Why not just give the sexy person at the bar your card? Phone number? Why give the comely stranger even more hoops to jump through? Why create an unnecessary middleman? After all, why should someone have to join an online dating community just to talk to you, when you've already sort of met in person?

We tried it out anyway though and frankly, this level of coyness isn't really our thing. It felt cheesy to slip random guys minding their business a garish red card, but we digress. We handed out 8 cards one evening and patiently waited for the messages to roll in. Crickets. Finally a few days later one guy replied, but only because he was a social networking manager at some company and was curious about this new-fangled invention. He asked us more questions about FlipMe.com than ourselves. 3 Ways To Stay Positive About Dating

Oh, sigh.

So we then took an informal poll of all our guy friends and asked how they would react if given a FlipMe card. After first being completely confused and perplexed by the concept, most said at the end of the day, they aren't sure if they'd contact the woman.

"I would assume she worked for the site and was just trying to do marketing," said one.

"Why wouldn't she just come up and talk to me?" said another.

"I think the only way that could work is if it was an anonymous sex site or something," said another (very typical) male.

"It would make me weary at first. What is she hiding behind? Why not just give me her e-mail or number?" another guy lamented.

In FlipMe.com's defense, they don't promise true love like a lot of other dating sites like Match.com, eHarmony or OKCupid who all use  sophisticated personality tests that match people and have somewhat steady success rates. In contrast, all the creators of FlipMe promise is to get the ball rolling amongst two people who might be attracted.

However, at a $24.99 three-month membership fee and only 30 cards, is it worth it just for a ephemeral promise of "attraction"?