Sunday, August 24, 2008
Social networking websites for dating purpose
Although officially social networking websites like Facebook, Friendster and Myspace are not online dating websites, many users consider it to be one in disguise. Indeed, people looking for romance click on each profile to see if the person is attractive, or if they have similar backgrounds (same school) or have same hobbies.
However, there are many problems when using social networking websites as an alternative to a pure dating website. I will now address them below:
1. Low statistics in terms of percentage
The bulk of the people on social networking sites are already seeing someone or married. Here are real statistics I extracted from Facebook’s Singapore network (where I am based). You can extract suitable statistics from your own network if you want.
Out of 477,340 users (as of 25 Aug 08), only 123,080 are listed as singles. That is, only around 25% are single. So not a good percentage, but not bad as an absolute figure. But wait, there’s some catch to this. Read on.
2. Targeting the wrong audience
It feels strange you will message someone out of the blue on social networking websites, as compared to a pure dating website. Perhaps the person is just inside Facebook to connect with his or her old classmates or friends, and not for romantic purpose. With an online dating service you would not have such ambiguity, as everyone have signed up to look for dates.
There are some people who even set their status as “It’s complicated”, so would you want to date someone who has an unfinished business (or relaionship) with someone else? Certainly not, you will only want to date with someone who is absolutely available and also looking for date. Otherwise, you will be barking up the wrong tree.
3. Being a virtual friend serves someone else’s purpose.
Essentially, social networking websites like Facebook or Friendster are designed so that you can keep in touch with your group of friends. However, people are sending Add Friend requests to strangers whom they do not even know. And interestingly, there are people who accept Add Friend’s requests without knowing who is at the other end too. I have read that such people are just keeping a long list of virtual friends to compete against their (real-life) friends. Yes, it sounds childish, but that is what is happening. So being in someone else’s virtual friend list just does not serve a dater’s ultimate purpose.
4. The search system on social networking websites are poorly designed for dating purpose.
Most social networking websites like Facebook or Friendster can allow you to search one gender of a certain age range, and of certain Relationship Status, and of a certain location too. But that is all about it. You cannot filter off important details of a person, such as religion, zodiac sign, whether he or she has any children, or wants children, ethnicity, height, weight, eating/drinking habits, smoking habit, etc.
Like with anything else, there are pros and cons to using either a social networking website or a dating website to find their soulmates. Those who are serious about finding a date may discover that their chance might just be better with a dating website as we have discussed above.
However, there are many problems when using social networking websites as an alternative to a pure dating website. I will now address them below:
1. Low statistics in terms of percentage
The bulk of the people on social networking sites are already seeing someone or married. Here are real statistics I extracted from Facebook’s Singapore network (where I am based). You can extract suitable statistics from your own network if you want.
Out of 477,340 users (as of 25 Aug 08), only 123,080 are listed as singles. That is, only around 25% are single. So not a good percentage, but not bad as an absolute figure. But wait, there’s some catch to this. Read on.
2. Targeting the wrong audience
It feels strange you will message someone out of the blue on social networking websites, as compared to a pure dating website. Perhaps the person is just inside Facebook to connect with his or her old classmates or friends, and not for romantic purpose. With an online dating service you would not have such ambiguity, as everyone have signed up to look for dates.
There are some people who even set their status as “It’s complicated”, so would you want to date someone who has an unfinished business (or relaionship) with someone else? Certainly not, you will only want to date with someone who is absolutely available and also looking for date. Otherwise, you will be barking up the wrong tree.
3. Being a virtual friend serves someone else’s purpose.
Essentially, social networking websites like Facebook or Friendster are designed so that you can keep in touch with your group of friends. However, people are sending Add Friend requests to strangers whom they do not even know. And interestingly, there are people who accept Add Friend’s requests without knowing who is at the other end too. I have read that such people are just keeping a long list of virtual friends to compete against their (real-life) friends. Yes, it sounds childish, but that is what is happening. So being in someone else’s virtual friend list just does not serve a dater’s ultimate purpose.
4. The search system on social networking websites are poorly designed for dating purpose.
Most social networking websites like Facebook or Friendster can allow you to search one gender of a certain age range, and of certain Relationship Status, and of a certain location too. But that is all about it. You cannot filter off important details of a person, such as religion, zodiac sign, whether he or she has any children, or wants children, ethnicity, height, weight, eating/drinking habits, smoking habit, etc.
Like with anything else, there are pros and cons to using either a social networking website or a dating website to find their soulmates. Those who are serious about finding a date may discover that their chance might just be better with a dating website as we have discussed above.
Labels: dating, facebook, friendster, matchmaking, myspace, singapore, social networking
# posted by Singles2meet @ 11:11 PM 
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