Though it may only have one member, DickedIn.org has thrust its way onto campus, with fliers circulating promoting “the only professional networking site for sexual intercourse.”
Fliers began papering the University Union and other spots at Binghamton University Wednesday, advertising the site, which redirects visitors to a video called “Love Connection,” one of several comedic videos produced by three Binghamton University students.
DickedIn was created by Sam Catalano, a sophomore double-majoring in accounting and cinema, Scott Sanders, a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law, and Dan Berlin, an undeclared sophomore.
The trio of aspiring comedy writers worked together to create Pride Power Produce, the YouTube channel through which the “Love Connection” video is available.
“The idea for our latest video came about in the shower when I began to feel sick after a weekend out,” Catalano said. “I started to think that I had mono and thought, ‘I wish there was a way to check a random hook-up’s sexual history: a LinkedIn for sex.’”
Catalano then presented the idea to Berlin, who came up with the name.
DickedIn.org makes the promise to “put the org in orgasm.” Upon visiting the site, prospective users are able to view a DickedIn profile complete with descriptions of qualifications in categories such as “sexperience,” as well as skills and expertise.
Clicking on the profile redirects visitors to the “Love Connection” YouTube video which shows positive testimonies from different DickedIn users. Their claims are backed by a man named Dr. Hans Onyu, who assures that “you’ll know what you’re getting into before it gets into you.”
The three then wrote a script and created sample user profiles before recruiting actors for their video.
The team had some trouble when it came to filming and finding people to do the faux testimonies.
“We put out an advertisement in B-line but very few people responded and none showed up; no surprise because it sounded like a porn ad,” Catalano said. “Luckily enough, a bunch of people from my theatre 207 class volunteered to read for it, along with my suitemate and neighbor.”
Catalano said that the site’s popularity in it’s initial stages was due, in part, to guerrilla marketing on campus.
“We got 942 views in the first 24 hours which was crazy for us,” Catalano said. “We linked it to our friends on our Facebook pages but we decided to put together a ground campaign too, advertising with posters all around campus as if it was an actual website.”
Launched barely a week ago, DickedIn’s YouTube video now has over 1,500 views.
“We know it’s not a lot of views, but we hope people would want to stick around and watch what we do next and that the numbers will get bigger and bigger” Catalano said. “We just enjoy making each other and others laugh.”