Apparatus and method for coordinating the matching and initial communications between individuals in a dating application

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving matching criteria associated with a first individual, the matching criteria specifying one or more characteristics of one or more individuals from a pool of individuals;

generating a match between the first individual and a second individual from the pool of individuals based at least in part on the matching criteria;

supplying the match to a client device associated with the first individual;

collecting a match acceptance by the first individual of the second individual;

verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish a verified status for the second individual; and

enabling network communication between the first individual and the second individual in response to the verified status.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish the verified status for the second individual comprises verifying a user profile of the second individual.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises determining that a minimum number of parameters for the user profile have been completed.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises verifying one or more parameters of the user profile through a social network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises verifying one or more parameters of the user profile through a computer network identity resource.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the matching criteria associated with the first individual comprises one or more facial features specified by the first individual.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein generating the match comprises:

applying a facial recognition module to images of the one or more individuals from the pool of individuals to identify facial features of each of the one or more individuals; and

filtering the one or more individuals based on the identified facial features and the one or more facial features specified by the first individual.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising:

assigning a priority value to a message from the second individual to the first individual based at least in part on the verified status of the second individual, wherein the priority value assigned to the message from the second individual has a higher priority than a priority value assigned to a message from another individual not having a verified status; and

supplying the message from the second individual and the assigned priority value to the client device associated with the first individual, wherein the client device is configured to display the message from the second individual in a ranked priority order with one or more other messages based on the assigned priority value.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , comprising applying a communication restriction to the network communication between the first individual and the second individual that requires the first individual to initiate the network communication, wherein the communication restriction is applied based on the gender of the first individual.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein selection of a designated emoticon by the first individual using the client device overrides the communication restriction.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving matching criteria associated with a first individual, the matching criteria specifying one or more characteristics of one or more individuals from a pool of individuals;

generating a match between the first individual and a second individual from the pool of individuals based at least in part on the matching criteria;

supplying the match to a client device associated with the first individual;

collecting a match acceptance by the first individual of the second individual;

verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish a verified status for the second individual; and

enabling network communication between the first individual and the second individual in response to the verified status.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish the verified status for the second individual comprises verifying a user profile of the second individual.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises determining that a minimum number of parameters for the user profile have been completed.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises verifying one or more parameters of the user profile through a social network or a computer network identity resource.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the matching criteria associated with the first individual comprises one or more facial features specified by the first individual, and wherein generating the match comprises:

applying a facial recognition module to images of the one or more individuals from the pool of individuals to identify facial features of each of the one or more individuals; and

filtering the one or more individuals based on the identified facial features and the one or more facial features specified by the first individual.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving matching criteria associated with a first individual, the matching criteria specifying one or more characteristics of one or more individuals from a pool of individuals;

generating a match between the first individual and a second individual from the pool of individuals based at least in part on the matching criteria;

supplying the match to a client device associated with the first individual;

collecting a match acceptance by the first individual of the second individual;

verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish a verified status for the second individual; and

enabling network communication between the first individual and the second individual in response to the verified status.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein verifying attributes of the second individual to selectively establish the verified status for the second individual comprises verifying a user profile of the second individual.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises determining that a minimum number of parameters for the user profile have been completed.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein verifying the user profile of the second individual comprises verifying one or more parameters of the user profile through a social network or a computer network identity resource.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the matching criteria associated with the first individual comprises one or more facial features specified by the first individual, and wherein generating the match comprises:

applying a facial recognition module to images of the one or more individuals from the pool of individuals to identify facial features of each of the one or more individuals; and

filtering the one or more individuals based on the identified facial features and the one or more facial features specified by the first individual.