Online Personals Are on the Rise
You've heard about it. You've seen it in the movies. A lonely gal goes through the ups and downs of finding love on the internet. A lonely guy meets a girl online and they realize that even though they hate each other offline, their virtual lives are a different thing altogether (You've Got Mail).
Online dating and online personals are simply the consequence of this lovely thing we call the internet. The World Wide Web brings us humans closer together than ever before. With the explosion of email and instant messaging and Twitter and blogs, it's only natural that people would eventually use these tools to find true love in the online ether.
At the beginning, online personals seemed just plain odd. It was something reserved for, misfits, losers and cranks. But today, that stigma has been shrugged off and legions of people are taking to the net with the hopes of finding companionship and the ever elusive true love.
Whoever came up with the idea to charge for the service, to cover for allowing people to scroll through personal profiles and connect, must have been a genius, because today these sites have become virtual gold mines.
Online dating really became popular in the early 2000s. That's when services like Match.com, eHarmony, and Yahoo Personals first cropped up and took off with a skyward trajectory. In August of 2003 alone, online personals drew over 40 million unique visitors in the United States. In terms of traffic, that's a huge number.
If you aren't up to speed with this world of online personals, it may seem like a complete mystery. But its actually pretty simple, and it makes sense. Personals are simply profiles. If you have a profile on a social networking site like Facebook or Bebo, then you already have a grasp of online personals. These are slightly more tailored than regular profiles, however. They include info about your physical characteristics, your weight, your hair color, your ethnicity, your lifestyle choices, your social background, your religion and even your eating and drinking and partying habits. Users usually include a quick description of themselves and they also jot down something about what they are looking for in a mate.
Users contact and connect via site based messaging. Most online personal sites also have a system in place for users to express interest without actually saying anything concrete, e.g. winking or poking. The idea is that users can browse through profiles, find someone that tickles their fancy, contact them and eventually meet up, face to face, for a real date.
Users of online dating sites are sold on the idea of finding their one true love on the internet. For many people, online personals are simply easier. It's more targeted, precise. Whereas, offline, you go to a club and mingle, hoping that someone at that particular place and time will prove to be date-worthy, online, it's not so ambiguous. Online you simply take a few minutes to browse through profiles and you choose the ones that look appealing. It's easy as pie.
Your true love could be a mouse click away.
There are some downfalls to internet dating, just as there are in real world dating. Many people tend to exaggerate or out right lie about their looks, their age and their professions.
Still, you can find romance if you look in the right places. It's easy to separate the bad eggs from the good ones and find your one true love.
Online dating and online personals are simply the consequence of this lovely thing we call the internet. The World Wide Web brings us humans closer together than ever before. With the explosion of email and instant messaging and Twitter and blogs, it's only natural that people would eventually use these tools to find true love in the online ether.
At the beginning, online personals seemed just plain odd. It was something reserved for, misfits, losers and cranks. But today, that stigma has been shrugged off and legions of people are taking to the net with the hopes of finding companionship and the ever elusive true love.
Whoever came up with the idea to charge for the service, to cover for allowing people to scroll through personal profiles and connect, must have been a genius, because today these sites have become virtual gold mines.
Online dating really became popular in the early 2000s. That's when services like Match.com, eHarmony, and Yahoo Personals first cropped up and took off with a skyward trajectory. In August of 2003 alone, online personals drew over 40 million unique visitors in the United States. In terms of traffic, that's a huge number.
If you aren't up to speed with this world of online personals, it may seem like a complete mystery. But its actually pretty simple, and it makes sense. Personals are simply profiles. If you have a profile on a social networking site like Facebook or Bebo, then you already have a grasp of online personals. These are slightly more tailored than regular profiles, however. They include info about your physical characteristics, your weight, your hair color, your ethnicity, your lifestyle choices, your social background, your religion and even your eating and drinking and partying habits. Users usually include a quick description of themselves and they also jot down something about what they are looking for in a mate.
Users contact and connect via site based messaging. Most online personal sites also have a system in place for users to express interest without actually saying anything concrete, e.g. winking or poking. The idea is that users can browse through profiles, find someone that tickles their fancy, contact them and eventually meet up, face to face, for a real date.
Users of online dating sites are sold on the idea of finding their one true love on the internet. For many people, online personals are simply easier. It's more targeted, precise. Whereas, offline, you go to a club and mingle, hoping that someone at that particular place and time will prove to be date-worthy, online, it's not so ambiguous. Online you simply take a few minutes to browse through profiles and you choose the ones that look appealing. It's easy as pie.
Your true love could be a mouse click away.
There are some downfalls to internet dating, just as there are in real world dating. Many people tend to exaggerate or out right lie about their looks, their age and their professions.
Still, you can find romance if you look in the right places. It's easy to separate the bad eggs from the good ones and find your one true love.
About the Author:
With online personals increasing in popularity, its a good idea for people to familiarise themselves with the industry before jumping in. Jayde Johanssen offers free online dating information to help people on their way. Get a totally unique version of this article from our article submission service