Online Dating and MySpace, Take Two
Published on November 21, 2007
Today, I found an interesting article about online dating and MySpace. As I have mentioned, I think MySpace is not the best place to try and begin a serious relationship. However, the article does make a few points I had not thought of:
- The community of MySpace or Facebook creates a little more security in regards to who you are meeting.
- Specialized groups make finding someone looking to date easier
I think the second point changes my mind slightly on the usefulness of a social networking site like MySpace for dating. When I was dating online, the last thing I wanted to do was wonder if the girl I was interested in was looking to date. I had never considered that the MySpace groups would help remove this confusion so that complaint looks to be less valid. Also, seeing a potential date in their community of friends does add some “feelings” of security and additional knowledge about who they are. I’m sure in many cases one mutual friend goes a long way to setting up a MySpace relationship.
Even with these new considerations, I still want to stress that I personally see MySpace as one of the worst possible options. Why?
- The site wasn’t designed for dating. Other sites that are will have tools that make finding potential matches much easier.
- Stories like this one are happening more often, not less. Stories like this don’t help convince me of the “with a community we are safer/more loving” argument presented in the article.
- Even with MySpace groups, online dating profiles offer no room for confusion on why the person is at that site. It’s much easier to join a dating group on MySpace out of curiosity (and then forget about it) than it is to set up an actual dating profile at an internet dating site.
- If someone is paying a fee, they’re more likely to be serious about meeting someone. And if you can’t pay, there are still good options.
- If you want a community with your online dating, there are alternatives to MySpace. And these community sites were designed with dating in mind.
As far as I know, no dating site offers statistics on success/failure rates for their service. Even if MySpace were capable of reporting dating success rates, I suspect they would have a much lower percentage of success than pure dating sites. Still, many articles I find disagree with me so just use what makes the most sense to you. I cover this topic not because I want to talk people out of using MySpace but because I want to help them avoid wasting their time.
Author: Brad
Brad initially struggled with online dating but over time became quite successful using it. He met his wife using online dating and has been giving advice and helping people improve their results since 2007. He has written a Free Online Dating Guide to help others find success with online dating. You can learn more about his personal experience using online dating and running this website here.
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