A newly installed photo booth outside Santo Taco near Union Square is offering an analog twist on modern dating for single New Yorkers. Instead of just dispensing standard picture strips, the machine prints out potential romantic matches.
The “Missed Connections” booth is the brainchild of Meet Cutes NYC, a popular social media operation known for stopping couples on city sidewalks to ask the story of how they first met. With this street-level installation, the group is now attempting to engineer those initial encounters by combining personality surveys with physical photo strips.
Digital surveys and analog prints
When participants step behind the black curtains of the booth, they engage in a multi-step process.
Before the ring light flashes for their photos, users must complete a digital questionnaire on their smartphones. The prompts ask participants to rate various statements on a scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
One prompt, for example, asks users to rate if they find extreme ambition attractive, even if it sometimes interferes with family and friends.
Once the survey is completed, the booth’s internal system analyzes the data against previous participants to find a compatible user. The machine then dispenses the individual’s own photo strip, followed immediately by a second strip featuring their algorithmic match.
To maintain the elusive nature of a traditional missed connection, the system provides minimal details. The secondary photo strip contains only the face and the first name of the match, leaving the actual real-world search entirely up to the participants.
The distinctive booth is currently stationed on the sidewalk at 94 University Place and will remain open to the public for the foreseeable future.