What do you get when you combine big data, the quest for love and complete irreverence? The hippest spot on the Web: OkCupid. Co‑founded by serial entrepreneur Sam Yagan — who’s now CEO of the world’s largest e-dating site, Match.com — OkCupid took the online dating world by storm, pairing people on the basis of their answers to a mind-boggling variety of questions. Crunching these data, the wonks at OkCupid come to many unexpected conclusions: One of the best predictors of the long-term success of a relationship is whether the partners share an attraction or revulsion to horror movies. If sex, not love, is what you are after, a man’s best chance of achieving that goal on a first date is with a woman who says she “likes the taste of beer.” At a time when businesses talk a lot about big data but often struggle to put it to use, Yagan’s approach stands out. In his own words, “You give us data. We give you dates.”
Levitt is a co-author of Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics