Swedish site Blickar.se (roughly translated as “glances”) allows users to post details of an encounter in the hope of finding that person again and perhaps recreating the magic they felt when they first made eye contact.

Registered users can post as many past encounters as they want and also have the option of communicating with others on the website. The site and the concept behind it have already attracted plenty of media interest.

Pierre Couriaut, one of the founders of Blickar.se, says the site took six months to develop and went online on October 26, 2007. 

Couriaut identified an opening in the market: “There was no such service around on the internet, which is the best medium for doing something like this,” he says.  

In research conducted by Blickar.se, 89 percent of respondents said they were interested in such a web-based service. This enthusiasm has been reflected in the traffic figures.

Couriaut is happy with the way the website is progressing: “Our statistics show that as many as 10 percent of the posts published so far have had some kind of message sent to them,” he says.

He is also aware of people who have gone on to form relationships with people they found on the site, although most prefer not to go public with their romances.

Couriaut is not surprised by the level of public interest shown in Blickar.se. As he puts it: “Everyone at some time has had this experience and can identify with it.”

Users can sign up to the site free of charge and leave a message containing details of their brief encounter. There is also a free search facility to check specific dates, cities or places contained in messages posted by other people. 

People are allowed to post as much or as little information as they wish and they can remain completely anonymous. 

A Communication Platform, available for a monthly fee of SEK 39, enables users to have a dialog and send messages via the platform. They can then read and send as many messages as they want. 

Couriaut and his team are ambitious about the future development of the website and have already drawn up plans to take it mobile. “The mobile aspect is an important part of our strategy and we are looking ahead to make that happen,” he says.

Another priority is to expand into global markets, especially in countries with big populations such as France and the UK. As Couriaut points out: “In London alone you have more people than in the whole of Sweden.”

Media interest has been strong. Couriaut says the site has been discussed both on radio and in print, good media exposure considering there has been no advertising as such for the site.

A proper advertising campaign is due to begin in May, with radio spots and banner advertising on the internet.



Adam Long