How do technophiles fall in love? If a Corvallis company has anything to say about it, the answer could be partyStrands.

The latest product from myStrands, a local firm that uses patented algorithms to help subscribers find music they'll like, gives people a new way to use their cell phones to interact with nightclub entertainment systems - and each other.

By sending a text message with their favorite recording artist, they immediately begin to influence the music selection as the club's DJ or computer-based sound system works the newcomers' chosen singers into the mix. Each user's "party name" appears on video monitors around the bar, along with an avatar icon and, if they choose, an Internet link to their personal MySpace or FaceBook page.

Users can send additional text messages to request songs, vote on drink specials or ask someone to dance.

"People seem to like it - it just gets them more interactive in a party setting," said Sabastian Gallegos, manager of Sancho's Mexican Grill near the Oregon State University campus, which runs partyStrands on its three 50-inch plasma video screens after 9 every night.

For some patrons, it's become a kind of electronic icebreaker.

"A lot of guys flirt with text messaging," Gallegos said. "They go, 'Hey, pretty girl on the left' or what have you."

All a bar, party organizer or event promoter needs to connect to partyStrands are a computer with a digital music collection, an Internet hookup and a video projection system.

If all this sounds a little futuristic, we've got bad news for you: You're getting old.

"In a nutshell, partyStrands is kind of the new partying for the MySpace generation," said Trevor Legwinski, product and marketing manager for partyStrands.

A member of the MySpace generation himself, Legwinski is an energetic young MBA who hands out business cards imprinted with his cell number, e-mail address and online handle, partytrevor.

"The MySpace generation is more oriented to their mobile phones," Legwinski said. "They love technology, they love music."

And they have no problem typing with their thumbs on the impossibly dinky keypads of cell phones and other mobile devices. For young people who have come of age in the wireless era, partyStrands seems to provide a link between their online existence and everyday reality.

Users can also log onto the partyStrands Web site to see where the party is in their neighborhood, who's there and what music is being played. If they can't get out of the house, they can still be virtual partygoers, participating online. The Web site automatically captures each night's activities, creating a permanent party archive illustrated with camera phone snapshots.

"We're merging three worlds," said Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarria, vice president of communication for myStrands, which recently changed its name from musicStrands to reflect a push into new realms beyond its original music discovery mission.

"Right now what you do in the online world stays there. What you do in the physical world stays there. We're merging those two worlds and the mobile world."

Many partyStrands users have pages on MySpace, FaceBook or other social networking Web sites that they use to advertise their personal interests, musical tastes and so forth. They can include a link to their home page when they log into a party with partyStrands, or they can hide behind an on-screen avatar to project a different image.

"That's what you do through MySpace, through myStrands - you're creating your persona," Legwinski said. "In some cases it resonates your personality, but in reality you could create a new personality."

MyStrands collects revenue from partyStrands in two ways. There's a 50-cent surcharge on each text message that shows up on the user's cell phone bill and is split between myStrands, the party venue and the mobile carrier. In addition, myStrands sells full-screen flash ads that appear on the bar's video monitor, the partyStrands Web site and the cell user's mobile Web viewscreen. There's no cost to the bar owner or party organizer.

Among the target advertising customers are liquor companies who want to promote their product in the clubs, Aldamiz-echevarria said.

"This is a way to reach consumers when they are consuming," he said.

The company has been marketing the product both in the United States and in Spain, where company founder Francisco Martin maintains a Barcelona office.

Sancho's is the only bar in Corvallis currently using partyStrands, and so far only a handful of U.S. nightclubs have signed onto the idea. One of those, however, could be the kind of tastemaker that gets some buzz behind the product: DoHwa, a trendy Korean restaurant in New York City's West Village co-owned by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino.

PartyStrands builds on the online community created by myStrands, which uses sophisticated collaborative filtering technology to help users discover new music based on their current preferences.

Hundreds of thousands of subscribers rub virtual shoulders on the myStrands Web site, where users can see what people are listening to in real time around the world, hear sample sound clips and click to online music services to buy downloads for their personal MP3 collections. Naturally, myStrands gets a cut of those transactions.

It's a form of social networking that gets even more interactive with partyStrands, Legwinski said - and could even lead to romance.

"I see music as a connective strand with everybody else. If I like the same artist as you, maybe we're more likely to talk," he said. "Instead of walking over and breaking the ice with something funny, you can use music as an interactive and connective tool."

Bennett Hall is the business editor for the Gazette-Times. He can be reached at 758-9529 or bennett.hall@lee.net.