Beautiful People
Find a Conversation
| Mon, 06-12-2006 - 10:25am |
Now I've seen it all.
BeautifulPeople.net
http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/1149867609202780.xml?pennap&coll=1
No joke
Beautiful people Web site, connects folks beautifully
Monday, June 12, 2006
BY JESSICA RAMAKRISHNAN
Columbia News Service
NEW YORK - When Deborah Coram's brother signed her up at BeautifulPeople.net last year, she thought he was foolish to put her profile onto a site exclusively for attractive people.
But then the raven-haired 34-year-old software sales executive discovered the beauty ratings scale and voting system that would determine whether she got in or not. From that moment, Coram, a native Australian who lives in Manhattan, was hooked.
"I would go on the site just to see whether I would get voted in by the members," she said. "It was more of an ego thing."
She met the standards of beauty set by the site's members, and less than a year later, was preparing to marry Danny Peuscovich, 31, an export manager in the food industry, and, yes, a fellow "Beautiful" person.
Coram is one of the thousands of U.S. members of BeautifulPeople.net, America's most beautiful Web site, according to its founders. What started as a joke by Robert Hintze, who professed he could not find a suitably attractive date on existing dating sites, has evolved into a multinational, multipurpose networking portal.
Members say they are not only dating and networking but also making long-term partnerships--both in love and business based on the initial criterion of beauty. BeautifulPeople members, or BPs, are forming business alliances, making friends and traveling the world through contacts made on the site.
But appearances seem to be the primary focus. Among the glamorous headshots are images of bikini-clad women in provocative poses and shirtless men showing off their ripped abs.
Despite the attention-grabbing shots, many singles claim that they are not actively looking for dates on the site. But if sparks do happen to fly, they are happy to see where they lead.
"It's really like saying that you read Playboy for the articles," said Amy Sohn, New York magazine's dating columnist. "Whatever they say, most people are on the Internet" to have sex.
The path to finding out whether you have the makings of a BP begins with the posting of a digital photograph with a short profile, which includes vital statistics like weight, height and salary details.
Over a three-day period, members rate your profile by checking boxes that range from "Yes! Certainly!" to "No! Not at all!"
The process is democratic but it's ultimately based on the aggregated subjective tastes of members, said Greg Hodge, chief executive officer of BP U.S. in Los Angeles.
Female applicants, who are rated by existing male members, are more likely than men to get in on good looks alone, although typical BPs are mobile young professionals with high disposable incomes, Hodge said. For men with less than hunky looks, there is some leeway. A good job and a large salary do help sway the female voting base.
One in six U.S. applicants gets in, Hodge said, whereas in Denmark, the home of BP, only one out of every 15 applicants makes the grade.
Dapper Chuck Ansell from Baltimore said he joined the site specifically to meet a partner.
"BP has opened up an arena of people I would not have normally met because I was so busy in my everyday life," said the 56-year-old headhunter and divorced father of an 18-year-old.
"It's definitely more upscale than the other sites I've been on," he said. "It seems that half the women are models or actresses."
While exclusivity based on good looks and a high salary may appear elitist, Hodge says BP simply creates an online community for what happens in the real world of dating and networking.
"If you are in a bar or social environment, you are going to be drawn to attractive people," said Hodge, who is not officially a BP because company policy prohibits employees from joining. "We are just removing the first hurdle for many people.
"Once members are on the site there are ways of getting to the character behind the looks," he said.
The forum section of the site is where members' individual substance--or lack of it--can be determined. Everything from religion to, as Coram put it, "the most puerile, juvenile stuff, and the kind you can't print" is discussed.
Here, though, is also where the business side of BP kicks in. Beth Mays, 35, of Houston, first mentioned her medical nonprofit charity in the forum section. After hearing about her search for a low-cost manufacturer to make dolls for the charity's educational outreach program, a fellow BP put her in touch with contacts in China.
Similarly, Steve Brandon Ward, a 25-year-old from Philadelphia, had used the site to recruit for his old-fashioned matchmaking service. He said members he has chatted with on the site have become clients of his service.
The challenge for sites like BP is to keep their paying customers, who are charged $25 for monthly access and $150 for an annual pass. Some former users, for example, form cliques and defect to BP alumni groups on free networking sites like MySpace.
In the works is a wireless alert service that has been well received in Denmark. With this feature, when a BP member is in proximity to another member of the beautiful tribe, their cell phones will vibrate.
"Why not?" said Ansell, the Baltimore BP, of the new feature. "I'd definitely try it out once."
| Mon, 06-12-2006 - 11:41pm |

