FAQ

Fair questions,
straight answers

What people want to know before they spend fifteen minutes on the survey: what you get back, who can see it, what it costs, and what happens when the network opens this fall.

The basics

What is Resonance, in one paragraph?

Resonance is a free survey — about fifteen minutes, 120 short statements about how you naturally see the world — that gives you a free personal report comparing you with thousands of other people who have taken it. From there you can invite the people you know, so each of them gets their own report too, and you can reserve a profile in the Resonance network, which opens this fall and introduces you to the people you're most likely to resonate with. It was created by UCLA psychology professor Matthew Lieberman.

Is this a dating site?

No. Resonance is about connection of every kind, and friendship is where it starts — the people you'd actually want to eat lunch with, work beside, or talk to for three hours. There's no swiping and no romantic framing. Organizations that set up their own community inside the network can build one for whatever purpose they like, including dating, but the network itself is here to introduce you to people you'd genuinely click with.

What does it cost?

Nothing. The survey is free, your report is free, inviting people is free, and a profile in the network is free. On top of that, the first 2,500 people to set up a profile get premium status free when the network opens this fall.

If paid features ever arrive, they'll be additions on top of what's described here, and we'll be plain about it well before anything changes.

Who made this?

Resonance was co-founded by Matthew Lieberman, a UCLA Professor of Psychology who has studied the social brain for more than 25 years. The way compatibility is measured comes out of that research. There's more on The Science and About.

Doesn't matching people who see the world alike just create echo chambers?

It's a fair question, and a valid concern for society — but not for the individual suffering from isolation. Worrying about echo chambers when someone is drowning in loneliness is like worrying about a latex allergy while applying a tourniquet. Yes, the allergy might be a problem later. But first, you have to stop the bleeding. Shared ways of seeing the world are the low-hanging fruit of connection, and for someone starving for friendship, we want to provide the easiest, most reliable meal possible.

Second, "alike" doesn't mean what you might expect. Left to their own devices, people mostly sort themselves by demographics — same hometown, same background, same crowd. Resonance ignores demographics entirely and matches on how you experience the world. That regularly connects people who look nothing alike on paper and would never have found each other on their own.

Third, sharing the same lenses does not necessarily mean a high compatibility score. Compatibility is computed across your whole profile — all twelve dimensions of perception — and similarity on some of them counts for far more than similarity on others. Some differences are complementary: they're part of what makes two people resonate, not something the matching has to look past. Two people who fit well are rarely two copies of each other.

So what the network does is introduce you to people who see the world in ways that fit together with the way you see it. That is not the same thing as people who are the same as you.

And to be clear: we're not suggesting Resonance should be the only way you make friends. But if the task is finding the handful of people you'd genuinely click with among thousands of strangers, we think this is the place to start.

The survey & your report

How long does the survey take, and what's it like?

About fifteen minutes, once. It's 120 short statements about how you naturally see and experience the world — what you notice first, how you read a situation, what matters to you. It isn't a quiz and there are no right answers. Your progress saves as you go, so you can do it in one sitting or come back to it.

Should I answer strategically to get "better" results?

Please don't — honest answers are the strategy. Your report describes whoever your answers describe, and so do your matches. Answering as the person you think you ought to be gets you a report about that person, and introductions to their people rather than yours.

What's actually in the report?

Twelve dimensions of perception, all of it set against a reference group of thousands of people who answered the same statements: your perceptual type, the lenses where you're most distinctive, the surprising combinations in how you pay attention, and the kinds of people you're most likely to resonate with.

It's ready minutes after you finish. You can read it right in your browser, have a copy emailed to you, or save it as a PDF. It's yours to keep either way.

Do I need an account to take the survey?

No. You can take the survey and read your report without one. The account is what carries you forward: it's how you set up your network profile, invite people, and find your way back to your report later. Create it on the account page with the same email address you used for the survey — that's what links the two together.

My report never arrived — where is it?

Your report opens in your browser the moment it's finished, so the first thing to try is the tab you had open. If you asked for a copy by email and nothing has shown up after a few minutes:

  1. Check spam, and on Gmail the Promotions tab. Look for "Your Resonance Lens Profile."
  2. If it's there, mark it "Report not spam" first, then open the same email from your Inbox and use the link from there. Links clicked from inside a spam folder often won't work.
  3. Check that the address you're searching is the one you took the survey with — a typo in the survey sends the report to a mailbox nobody reads.

Still nothing? Email support@resonance.info and we'll get it to you.

I created an account but the confirmation email never came.

Same drill: look in spam and Promotions, mark it "not spam," then click the link from your inbox rather than from the spam folder. The link is good for 24 hours, and the account page has a "send it again" button for when the first one expires or vanishes.

Inviting people you know

What happens when I invite someone?

We send the invitation for you, with your name on it, and replies come straight to you. Whoever you invite gets their own free report, exactly like yours — that alone is worth the invitation.

If you both say yes, you each see the other's report, plus a joint report about the two of you: where you overlap, where you differ, and what that combination tends to look like in practice. It takes both of you agreeing. If either one says no, nothing is shared.

What if the person I invite never takes it?

Then nothing happens. They got one invitation from you; there's no joint report and nothing changes on your end. Your own report is yours regardless.

Can I do this without inviting anyone?

Yes. Every invitation is optional, and you're never required to name a single person to get your report or your profile. Most people invite someone anyway, because the joint report is the part that's hard to stop talking about.

The network, opening this fall

What is the Resonance network, exactly?

A place where you have a profile, and where you're introduced to the people you're most compatible with — nearby and everywhere else — with a reason attached to every introduction rather than a photo and a shrug.

Organizations can have walled-garden communities inside it, with sub-groups of their own for a class, a team, the first years, an event. And all of it is opt-in: taking the survey doesn't put you in the network, and nobody can see you there unless you decide to be there.

What does reserving a profile actually get me?

Your place in line, and your matches ready on the day it opens. Taking the survey and creating your account now is what holds it — when the network opens, your profile is already built from answers you've already given, and the people you invited are already there with you instead of somewhere behind you.

What is premium status, and why is it free for the first 2,500 people?

Because showing up before there's anything to show up to deserves something. The first 2,500 people to set up a profile keep premium status for free, permanently. There's nothing to buy and no card to enter — you set up your profile, and you're either in the first 2,500 or you aren't.

Will I see compatibility scores or rankings?

No. The network never shows scores, percentages, rankings or numbers of any kind. Matching is computed from your full twelve-dimension profile, but what reaches you is language: what the two of you share, where your differences fit together, and why the introduction is worth making. Resonance is expressed in words.

Do I have to join the network?

No, and taking the survey doesn't sign you up for it. The survey and the report stand perfectly well on their own. Joining is a separate, deliberate step, and so is everything inside it — being visible, accepting an introduction, joining a community.

Privacy & who sees what

What happens to my survey answers?

Two things, and only two things: they produce your report, and they compute your matches. They are never sold and never shared with third parties, and nobody — not another member, not an organization — ever sees the answers themselves. That commitment comes straight from the founder.

Who can see my report?

You, and anyone you deliberately send it to. Your report lives at its own private link; anyone holding that link can read it, so pass it on only if you want to. The one other case is an invitation you both accepted — then you each see the other's, because you each said yes.

What will other people see about me in the network?

Your profile — the name, the photo and the words you chose to put there — and, when the two of you are introduced, a description of how you fit together. Never your survey answers. Never your report, unless you send it yourself. Never a score.

Can I delete my account and my data?

Yes. Email support@resonance.info with the subject "Account Deletion" and the address on the account in the body; your account and its data are deleted within 90 days. The full terms are in the Privacy Policy.

Organizations & anything else

Can my school, company or group have its own space inside Resonance?

Yes — that's what a walled garden is: a private community inside the network with only your people in it, and rooms within it for a class, a team, the first years, a single conference session. Your people take the same survey and get the same free report as everyone else, and the organization never sees anyone's individual results.

It's free for early partners. Tell us what you're trying to build on the Resonance for organizations page — Matt reads those himself.

Something isn't working, or my question isn't here.

Email support@resonance.info — tell us what you were doing and what happened, and we'll sort it out. If you came in through a school, company or group that brought Resonance in, whoever runs it can reach us directly too.

👋

Ready when you are. The survey is free, it takes about fifteen minutes, and your report is waiting the moment you finish. Start the survey →