Social Media’s Singles Game
Single, dating, mating… there’s a whole lot of people out there having a go at it. And whether they’re enjoying the singles lifestyle (Andrea Learner has an interesting post on marketing to single women) and just looking for some fun companionship, are serial monogamists, or want lifelong partners, there’s a ton of searching going on.
Used to be that putting an ad in the personals was the way to go, but that’s so old school; now the print ads have an online version. For those who want more structure and focus, the leading Internet dating sites like eHarmony.com, Chemistry.com and PerfectMatch.com are the way to go.
But for DIYers or those that like the search-and-seek game, there are the hot and popular social networking sites that let people reveal their own status. Flickr lets users input their gender (female, male, other and rather not say) and singleness (single, taken, open and rather not say). And MySpace.com, the current darling, lets users list things like status, orientation and body type.
Now there are two sites that help track MySpacer’s availability: David Weekly’s SingleStat.us ("find out when your friends become single!") and Jared Chandler’s DatingAnyone.com ("The Myspace Dating Status Monitor").
According to the site, SingleStat.us was created over three days in 2004, while DatingAnyone.com, as mentioned in this TechCrunch comment, was created during exam finals last month. And Jared already "snagged MyspaceStat.us and DatingStat.us just for kicks."
Let the fun begin.
(&hearts image from makowol)
What you forgot is good old Craigslist. This is a hoot to try with relative anonomy. Also these seems to be the 21st Century version of the “bananas in the top basket at the local Wholefoods on Thursday Night game”.
Yeah, Craigslist is one too, but it’s not as picture-heavy as MySpace (along with the other interactive things) that tend to draw people in. Did I mention the pictures? It’s all about the pictures.
I miss you — when are you coming back?
Once upon a time, I did try a couple of these sites. Never found anyone, sadly, but made some wonderful friends at some American sites. Not that it matters these days, being off the bachelor market for one month tomorrow!