Dating sites are becoming more and more important in the social lives of single people looking for a spouse. According to Forbes magazine, there has been a booming increase of members of dating sites, even though it’s a time of recession. But according to the article, it’s because of the recession that causes people to prefer a dating site than, let’s say, a night at a bar: joining a dating site is much cheaper, whereas a night in a bar can cost you lots of money that you’ve spent on drinks. And a night in a bar doesn’t guarantee you any result –you may not even meet somebody- but spending time on a dating site at least results in meeting new people. Another advantage is that you can filter your search options to your preferences. Of course, that doesn’t mean you’ll immediately hit the jackpot, but those chances could be lower when visiting a bar. Here you can find the article: http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/06/online-dating-industry-face-markets-cx_je_0105autofacescan01.html
Can we say that dating sites can also be considered as social networking sites? Yes, but it’s another type of category. Where can we find the similarities? First of all, a dating site is a platform where people can meet other people and interact with each other, just like the conventional social networking sites. Also, it’s important how you present yourself on either platform. You want people to see you in a certain way, which could be anything, even as somebody that doesn’t want to bother too much with social networking sites. But there all also differences. Where the ‘normal’ social networking sites don’t really have a purpose but to engage people with each other, a dating site is there for you to find a mate. So technically, after meeting the first person on the site, you could have met your misses or mister right and you don’t have to look any further on the site. That means you don’t have to engage anymore with other people and that isn’t very social. But this rarely happens and people most of the time end up meeting more people. Furthermore, because of its clear purpose, interaction between people is motivated on other grounds than compared to the regular social networking sites. But one thing that should be mentioned, is that regular social networking sites also involve activities of people trying to find a spouse.
