Online Personals

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By Jayde Johanssen

You've heard the story before. You've witnessed it on the big screen. In Hollywood flicks, like You've Got Mail and Must Love Dogs, the leading man and his female counterpart meet online and they fall in love. Virtual romance blossoms everywhere.

If you think about it, it's easy to trace the evolution of the whole online dating phenomenon. It's a consequence of email, instant messaging, and social networking. The internet has brought humans together in a way that never was possible before. The natural extension, of course, is online dating. And more now than ever before, people are using the internet to find romance.

When online personals first made their way into market, many people thought it was a desperate attempt for the socially awkward, for the oddballs of society. Today, however, people have embraced online dating. It's no longer seen as abnormal or strange. In fact, many believe they'll be able to find their soul mate easier online rather than off.

Online dating has skyrocketed in the past few years. It's a very lucrative industry. The genius who came up with the idea of charging a monthly membership to look through profiles, is without doubt raking in the dollars.

Online personals, like Match.com and relative newcomer Plenty of Fish have more members now than ever before. However, the internet dating phenomenon first became a hit around 2003-04. Monthly traffic hit 40 million in late August of 2003.

Those who aren't familiar with online personals are probably baffled as to its popularity. The mechanics of finding true love on the net may seem improbable. But it's really not. Online dating works much like social networking. You have a profile where you put down all your details. You add personal and physical characteristics such as height, hair color and weight, along with religious affiliation, race, profession, whether or not you smoke or drink, and other pertinent details. The profile also includes a write up of what you're looking for in a partner.

Users contact each other using on site private messaging. Most dating services allow uses to express emotions via virtual winks, hugs, kisses, etc. Users can then exchange email addresses and phone numbers once they feel ready.

Online daters are gung ho about the idea that they can find their soul mate online. It's much more precise than regular dating. Going to a bar, for instance, is basically like walking blindfolded into a minefield. It's hit or miss. Online, however, you can pick and choose; you narrow down the candidates and aim for the bull's eye.

Just maybe your soul mate is looking right at you from behind your monitor.

There are downsides to online personals, undeniably. A lot of people have a propensity to lie about certain physical aspects. They make themselves skinnier, younger, or older, taller, etc.

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.

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