Before one of the many ill-fated dates he took on the CBS show "How I Met Your Mother," Ted Mosby and his latest non-mother paramour agreed to refrain from looking at any of each other's social media profiles or doing any Internet research.
It hit home for plenty of college students, for whom surreptitious Internet research is a key part of the dating process. A host of new websites and mobile applications have popped up in the last few months to cater to these students.
Lulu, a mobile application and website, tries to supplement conversations between girls and young women about potential boyfriends and crushes, Lulu cofounder Alison Schwartz said. She said about 14 percent of ASU's female undergraduates use the app, and 1,000 male students have profiles on the sister site, Lulu Dude. "We're recreating the patterns of female friendship on a mobile app," she said.
The app only allows female users, rejecting any male users who try to join with the phrase, "Dude, you're a dude." Women on the site leave ratings and answer a set of questions about men they know.
Schwartz said the app avoids dipping into mean comments about the men discussed on it. Like Instagram and Twitter, it uses hashtags, and she said the most common are phrases like #epicsmile or #willactsilly.
Many users are trying to help their platonic male friends find dates, she said.
"Girls like to have information and they like to share it," Schwartz said. "There's a lot of value in girl talk."
Unlike traditional dating websites, where individuals are able to cater their own information, lulu allows men to add pictures and some biographical detail through luludude and all other information comes anonymously from other women.
This allows women to learn honest information about a man and decide whether to pursue a relationship with him on her own, Schwartz said.
"On traditional dating sites, girls are inundated and deluged with attention from guys, and it's not always wanted," she said.
Another recent Internet start-up with college students as a large source of its users also strives to differ from traditional online dating websites. Bang With Friends imports users' Facebook friends and allows users to select the ones with whom they'd be interested in pursuing a sexual relationship.
Who users select as being someone with whom they'd be "down to bang" stays anonymous unless both parties indicate interest, at which point the app notifies both users.
One of the company's founders, C, who chooses to remain anonymous, because he said it made it easier to build the product, said the app allows users to break the ice with potential mates safely.
"It allows both parties to put it out there without risking a friendship," he said.
Bang With Friends is available as a website or as an Android app, though it's not currently in the iTunes app store. C estimates that between 5,000 and 10,000 ASU students have used it.
He said it's more natural and safer than traditional online dating websites, because it relies on a user's existing friends instead of building relationships with strangers.
However, Bang With Friends still has its detractors, many of whom are opposed to the site's focus on sex.
"Sex shouldn't be so taboo," C said. "We're giving people a technological tool to do what you'll already do."
ASU alumnus Jeremy Bryant is familiar with this kind of criticism. Bryant, who graduated in 2009 with a bachelor's degree in architecture, invented Lip Chaser, a lip gloss that can be used as a chaser after taking a shot of alcohol.
"I thought Lip Chaser was a cool idea," Bryant said. "Everyone likes to kiss; everyone likes to drink."
He came up with the idea at a party in Rome, where he lived briefly after graduating. A girl there was bragging about her lip gloss, and Bryant's roommate kissed her after taking a shot of vodka.
The resulting product comes in cherry and lime flavors and can be found at the two Campus Corner stores on the 700 block of South College Avenue and the 600 block of South Mill Avenue, as well as several liquor stores near campus.
Bryant said it has a specific audience, mostly college students and other 21- to 25-year-olds at parties.
"If you're using Lip Chasers, you were going to kiss somebody tonight anyway," he said. "You're not kissing any more people with the product."
Even then, he said it's most commonly used at special occasions, like bachelorette parties or large events.
"You're not going to go out every Friday and Saturday with this in your pocket and going 'Hey, kiss me! Hey, kiss me!" he said. "It's about capturing the moment."
Reach the managing editor at julia.shumway@asu.edu or follow @JMShumway on Twitter.
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