Fight Spring Fever with a New Way to Meet People

Whether you’re divorced, newly single or have been on the market a while, spring, as they say, has sprung.

With spring comes the irresistible urge to get out and meet some new people.

I’d heard good things about a new way to meet new potentials called Anomo, and being the uber-curious type, I signed up.

It reminds me a little of Facebook, but you’re interacting with people you don’t already know…and there’s a twist (more on that later).

I liked it enough to want to find out just who was behind it, so I set out to interview one of Anomo’s creators, James Sun.

1. What exactly is Anomo? I mean…I know what it is, but before planning this interview, I had no clue. 

JS: Anomo is an anonymous social network where people ONLY reveal things when they want to.

Anomo switches up the social networking world. You use an anonymous avatar and actually get to know the people around you while interacting in games and group or one-on-one chats.

2. This dating app is quite unique in that users don’t post pictures of themselves as their profile picture. Their profile picture is actually an animated avatar (super cute). Why the avatar, and do you think using the avatar makes communication easier? Was it your intention to make this dating app different than your average dating app in that regard, ease of conversation?

Because everyone starts as an avatar, first impressions reach beyond appearance and relationships grow in a more authentic way. You control how much you want to reveal about yourself in each relationship as you go.

Best of all, your account is insulated from your real life, so you can screw up, bomb a conversation, completely embarrass yourself, reveal what you really think and feel safe without jeopardizing your real reputation.

3. A lot of Anomo’s users are in their 20s and 30s. My readers are primarily divorced women and men over 35 looking to get back into the dating game. Have you noticed an increase in users over 40?

We have a lot of users in their 30s and 40s, especially in the U.K. Our user base is definitely growing in the over 35 market. In fact, our most engaged users are often older than 30.

When you sign up for the app, we default to only show you people and content in your age group.

“Our dream is for Anomo to completely

revolutionize social interactions.”

4. How did the idea for an avatar-based dating app come about?

We started as a social app and realized many people were looking for dating on Anomo. We based our company on Oscar Wilde’s quote, “Man is least himself in his own person. Give him a mask and he will tell you the truth.”

5. A lot of apps, websites and web-based businesses have odd names. Google and Yahoo immediately come to mind. Anomo isn’t a word one uses in general vocabulary. Where did the name Anomo come from?

Anomo comes from the word anonymous without the “ny” and “us.”

6. OK, I’m going to put you on the other side. Let’s say you’re a single male/female. You’ve heard about this wicked new dating app and have decided to give the fabulous Anomo a try. You know this app better than anyone. What would you say is the most productive way to get to know others and make some dating headway in this creative application? 

We have a game called ice-breakers. All you have to do is shake your phone and Anomo will intelligently find you four people in your age range and of the opposite sex to play an ice-breaker game with.

It’s a simple five-question “get to know you” game that ranks your compatibility with the other users after each game. If you find the other person interesting, then you start chatting and getting to know them. If the chat goes extremely well, both of you can reveal a photo or personal information privately to each other.

7. Do you have anything you want your potential and current Anomo users to know?

Every ice-breaker you play helps Anomo intelligently find the next set of four people for you. We categorize people into 20 classifications and our algorithms analyze which classifications tend to chat more often with another classification.

For example, if we classify you as “Class Three” and you end up chatting with “Class Seven” a lot, our algorithm knows Class Three-type people socialize often with Class Seven, so we’ll try to find more matches with that correlation.

We think the best predictor of who might be compatible is the type of person you end up chatting most with.

8. When you’re in the Anomo app, you can literally see how many new users are joining as you scroll down the activity screen. That’s a really cool feature. Is there a reason you let us see that?

We want our users to welcome new users.

9. What’s your dream for Anomo in the upcoming years?

Our dream is for Anomo to completely revolutionize social interactions.

We should not judge people solely on a photo, and we should not be afraid to share our real thoughts because of the social consequences that come from traditional social networks like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

We should be able to share authentic thoughts while protecting our personally identifiable information and meet new people around through authentic conversations.

Our dream is to have 50 million users within three years who believe in this mission.

Anomo is available for iPhone and for Android on Google Play.