My Findings on Love: dot com style. (part I)
As described in my most recent post, I’m doing some investigative research in the field of online dating. You may be thinking to yourself- why?
Everyone has an opinion on the subject from positive to negative and everything in between. However, how many of these people who “have an opinion” on it have actually signed up and experienced these kind of sites first hand?
Well, ladies and gentlemen, luckily for you, techyness is here to report back findings.
Findings: Match.com Day 1
1. Choose a normal “screen name” :Nobody wants to talk to “selective_dude” or “justlookin25″ or “sweetnsour_asian” or “playinthafield” Stick to a derivative of your name (initials are always a go) a favorite sport, activity, or team. Occupations work too if it’s something cool.
2. Don’t post really weird pictures of yourself. Honey, this isn’t MySpace. That picture of you taking a picture of yourself half naked in the mirror is not the classiest. I would recommend a full analysis of your target demographic before posting such things.
3. Winking (must be) the highest form of flattery. Think Facebook “poking” but not. The way it works (I guess) is someone winks at you, you respond (if you want to) and then, they might send you a message saying something like “hey whats up how do u like atl.” I guess you go from there?
4. Your every action is tracked. Think google analytics but for facebook. You can (pay extra) to find out if someone reads your emails, etc. But it is free to see who has viewed your profile. Proceed with caution, my friends, as you might not like what you find. In my case, i saw like 45 year old dudes perusing…. c’mon…
5. Some people aren’t as cool as they look. Maybe they hired professional copywriters to create their 2D verbage. Maybe they are a professional graphic designer?
6. Not everyone can spell (or piece together the english language). Yea, it’s a shocker. Proofread, people.
In the end though, my question is– you can lie in person, or you can lie online (about how much money you make, if you’ve been married before, if you have kids, etc.) Is there really a big difference? Will our kids think differently about online dating? If you think about it, it’s really just a way to “meet” people. You’re not just having an online relationship.
More thoughts to come on this one as time progresses.