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Cheeky New Ways to Connect

Have you been displaced by the downturn? Finding it hard to meet new peeps?

Perhaps this scene is familiar: You’re in a coffee shop, i.e., your new office. You notice a delightful specimen across the room immersed in your favorite novel. Handing off a business card on the way to the loo feels a little douchey. So you do nothing. Pretty soon, Mr./Ms. Sexy has vanished.

Missed connections. Opportunities wasted.

Enter Cheek’d. The new offline/online dating concept gives you a set of saucy calling cards to give to someone you’d like to know better. The recipient is invited to go online to check out your profile, and decide whether he or she would like to make contact with you.

The Recession left many of us disconnected from the ways we used to meet people (work conferences, expensive clubs). And many of us have lots more time to hang out in coffee shops. The cheeky phrases printed on the Cheek’d cards (a pack of 50 costs $25) reflect our post-crash emotional landscape, from the wistful, “I used to be an investment banker”, to the celebratory, “I still have a job”.

In the wake of the financial crisis, Lori Cheek (a former purveyor of high-end furniture), Charlie Kickham (a freelance business consultant) and Locke Raper (a former VP of business development for Air America and, full disclosure, a friend of mine) were struggling through their own displacement — either out of work or dissatisfied with their jobs. But their entrepreneurial energies were a-stirring.  They met up while enjoying a stint of funemployment at a Mardis Gras party in 2009 and decided to turn Match.com burnout into a business.

“Online dating can seem like an impersonal market for love,” explains Raper. “People thirst for a more personal interaction; they want to get a measure of the people they encounter. The Recession has left us longing for what’s real, what’s genuine.  Handing someone a social card instead of a business card has a nostalgic aspect, harkening back to a simpler time.”

Cheek’d is part of a growing trend of finding new ways to connect with one other as the contours of our lives change. The iPhone app Urban Signals, launched in January, allows you to reach out to other users who happen to be online. Pictures of members pop up on a GPS map of your location, and if you see someone you’d like to know, you can send a message. If you’re gay, you can use Grindr, another iPhone app that lets you zone in on the hottie across the street using GPS technology.

Or you could just walk up and say ‘hi’. But when was the last time you did that?