Matchmaking Extension

This manual explains the matchmaking feature for the Open Social platform, how Site managers can set up the matchmaking feature, and how the community members and organization profile can get matched. This page covers what Matchmaking is and what you can do with it.

Note 1: Matchmaking is not a part of the default Open Social product but can be ordered/ enabled as an extension module.

Note 2: The matchmaking feature is dependent on the organization profiles feature - as it connects users with organisations. So, to order/ enable this feature, organization profiles also needs to be ordered/enabled.

 

What is the Matchmaking feature?

The Matchmaking feature is a tag-driven tool, designed to enhance community engagement through personalized connections. Utilizing members' tags, which represent interests and preferences, it smartly identifies potential investment opportunities. This simple yet powerful mechanism filters community's organizations, making it easier for members to find what truly resonates with them.  The goal is to make interactions on the platform that feel tailored, engaging, and most importantly, relevant to each user's unique interests.

How does it work?

Configuration for Site Managers

SM can setup everything regarding Matchmaking from the menu

There are 2 types of settings: Tags and Notifications

Tags

On this page SM can see the list of tags available for Matchmaking. They can click on the Edit button to add/delete or change tags.

The creation, editing and deletion of Matchmaking tags is available in the taxonomy vocabulary called Matchmaking. This vocabulary works in a similar way as Content tags.

We support 2 levels of depths so tags at the first level are considered parents and will be used as matchmaking categories.

Within these categories SM can add as many tags as necessary. Every time a new category or term is added and published it will be available for users and Organizations to use.

 

The list of tags available for Matchmaking

Notifications

As part of this extension we provide 3 emails: New match, Profile update match and No match. The first two are partially customizable: SM can change the top text of the emails to personalize them. The bottom part of both emails is hardcoded and provides the list of matches and some useful CTA buttons.

A preview of each email is visible for the SM so they can be in control of what is sent to the users.

Notifications preview and customization page

 

New match

This email is sent when a new Organization is added to the platform or when an existing Organization changes their Matchmaking tags.

Profile update match

This email is sent when a user registers on the platform or when they change their Matchmaking tags in the Profile settings.

No match

This email is sent when no matches are found based on their Matchmaking settings.

 

“No match” notification (not customizable)

Configuration for Organizations

Matchmaking extension adds a new section in the Organization settings. Here, the Organization manager can see all available matchmaking categories and select tags.

Matchmaking settings for the Organization

If no term is selected, no match with the Organization will be found.

When all terms are configured the Organization is matched with relevant users and they will receive a notification about the match.

Configuration for Users

The users have a larger set of available settings. The reason is that we want to match people (potential investors) with Organizations seeking investments.Because of that, community members are in charge and can be very specific about which kind of Organizations they are happy to check out and potentially sponsor.

In the Member profile we add a new set of fields for the Matchmaking feature. They work in a similar way as the one for Organization but we add an extra level of flexibility. First, the user needs to select a Match level. It’s important to get a wide or narrow range of results.

Matchmaking settings for the User

Once the users select the Match level they also need to choose the Matchmaking tags that are relevant for them. At least 1 tag needs to be provided in order to get matches.

Once the changes are saved, the user will receive a notification with matches.

Match level

Essentially defines how many criteria need to align for a 'match' to be suggested.

Exploration (default)

This is the most flexible option and we provide it as default. Every category is optional and we will return a match with any Organization that matches any of the tags set in the profile.

“Exploration” Match level settings

The more tags have a match with an Organization (always 1 per category), the higher the match quality will be and the higher this Organization will be displayed in the Matchmaking overview.

Balance

This setting allows people to specify what is really important for them and what is nice to have but not a dealbreaker.

For this setting we provide 2 sets of tags: Essential and Optional. Everything that is configured as Essential needs to have a perfect match with the Organization e.g. if the user specifies 3 categories as Essential, all 3 will have to be aligned with the Organization to have a match.

“Balance” Match level settings

Pinpoint

This setting is very strict and gives a few results with a 100% match quality. Each category is must-have, so any term specified (1 term per category) needs to be perfectly aligned.

“Pinpoint” Match level settings

The user can switch between match levels at any time until they find the perfect balance.

How we show Matchmaking tags

Organizations

We display Matchmaking tags on the Organization dashboard in the Statistics block.

All terms and categories selected are visible so people can always see them

Users

At the moment we do not want to display the user selection of Matchmaking tags on the platform. This is a personal setting that should be used to find an Organization. Making this information public could ruin the match quality with Organizations that could adjust their tags just to get matched with specific users.

Where the user can view the matches

In our first iteration we are going to show the relevant matches in the Organizations overview /all-organizations page.
This page already displays all the existing Organizations on the platform and we have added a sorting option by Relevance (Match quality). Organizations that have a match with the user will be displayed at the top, ordered by the match quality, highest to lowest.
We have also added a visual indicator to the teasers of Organizations that have a match.

All organizations page with results sorted by Relevance

What's next?

My matches

Another feature that we want to implement is a new place where the user can view all matches (potentially, not only with organizations). Only relevant organizations will be presented to the users in the match quality order. This should make it simpler to navigate through the results and come back to them when necessary.

More entities

The long term plan for this feature is to be able to create matches between different types of entities such as content, groups, events, and etc. Also, with other members so that we could match people based on their interests and they could start collaboration.

At the moment (31/10/2023) we have no plans for when these improvements will be picked up.

However, if you are interested in further developing the matchmaking feature, contact your CSM!