Finding Love With Social Networking

Move over dating sites, there's a new player in town. If you need to expand your circle of dating opportunities, you may have overlooked one very obvious and growing choice. Social networking sites have grown so tremendously over the last decade that they now outrank nearly all online dating sites and even most search engines. What does this mean for your dating life? If you haven't jumped on the social networking band wagon yet, here are a few reasons that may have you reconsidering your stance.

1. Love Is Free
Nearly all of the top social networking sites are free. That's right, no monthly memberships or free trials to mess around with. Just sign up and you're in and on your way to finding your love match.

Practical Tip: Wade through the masses and join a networking site that fits your interests. This will narrow down the playing field and bit and help you target someone more suited to you and your personality.

2. Location, Location, Location
The first thing most people do, after filling out their profile, is look for people near them or people they might know. Due to this basic instinct, you're more likely to find someone closer to you, and possibly even a forgotten love.

Practical Tip: You may not feel comfortable with giving away your location. There's nothing wrong with that, but do try to share a general idea of where on the globe you are to avoid unnecessary and unwanted contacts.

3. The Freedom of Expression
Probably the greatest aspect of a social networking site is your freedom to express your inner self in greater detail. You can customize most profile pages very extensively from the background to the music. Not only does this allow potential mates to see more of the real you, you get a great opportunity to see a little more into their inner psyche as well.

Practical Tip: Use some discretionary judgement when creating your profile. Avoid using dark text colors on dark backgrounds and vice versa. Very bright or clashing colors will not be received very well either. When you put up pics, really think about an outsiders viewpoint and what they'll discern from them. If they don't communicate the message you want to share about yourself, don't put them up.

4. Friendly Stamp of Approval
Since most of your friends will also be online, you can take advantage of the sixth degree friend factor. Somehow it just feels better if you know someone who knows this person. Consider it an extra safety precaution for you.

Practical Tip: Ask your friends how well they know the person and whether or not they are available for a personal relationship.

5. Dig A Little Deeper
Social networking profiles ask a little more information than a typical dating profile. You can take advantage of this by viewing profile pages of their friends, viewing comments made and even checking out what schools or jobs they've had. Having all this information readily available lets you make a more informed decision about whether you might be a good match.

Practical Tip: Be ready to share the real you with the world. Don't hold back when it comes to sharing blogs, quotes, images or songs you love. Everything you share gives your potential someone a deeper look into the inner you.

The Downside
Now, while there are very positive aspects to social networking sites, there are some downsides you should consider as well. Due to their popularity, you may run into quite a few frogs before you find your prince. Be discerning about who you choose to get "closer" with. Dating sites will sometimes run accuracy checks on the relationship status of a member. You won't find that on a social networking site. Safeguard your heart and always approach a new interest in the vein of friendship. If you do find a spark lit, remember the saying, "love is friendship set on fire."

Salty Vixen's Final Thoughts: We are living in 2022 and beyond, many of us are lonely and looking for love. When the person on the dating app says "you are cute, you are beautiful" you think "Aww flirting!" and sometimes it is just flirt.. many times they want a one-night-stand. Even if you write on your profile you don't do that; the other person usually doesn't read the profile. Another tip, "love bombing" is a HUGE Red Flag, when someone love bombs you, promises you the moon and the stars, time to 'unmatch' because that is supposed to happen once you are in a serious relationship, not when you just met them (Because all the want is a motel evening and nothing more and that is when you say "I ain't no whore!".