Sunday, November 05, 2006

Finding True Love on the Internet


Do you believe in love at first site? Or, can you believe in love at first click? New media, such as the internet, has impacted personal relationships to an extreme affect. People are now obtaining new relationships through websites, such as match.com or eharmony.com. Through these websites, people create a personal brand to attract new relationships, “brand management seeks to control and program a diffuse production process that proceeds through extended circuits of mediatized communication” (Arvidsson, 2006). The users of the multitude of websites create an image of themselves to seduce or attract potential partners. Individuals create profiles, which usually contain a profile of themselves and a brief synopsis of their life and interests. From that information, people find there new partner (or maybe their ‘soul-mate’). The internet created an open communication channel for people to find their potential mates. These sites break down the intimidation factor associated with approaching new people, and allows for users to meet new people without the feelings of fear or nervousness. Each person who is registered to the various sites is there for basically the same reason; they want to have a relationship. Now, users can view the profiles, and send emails to the potential partner. That allows for the other person to view their profile, and determine if they also want to send an email. Once the emails are exchanged, the people usually communicate using telephones. Once each person feels comfortable with each other, then a face-to-face meeting is established. The internet emails, instant messaging and telephones are all mediums through which these people establish trust and confidence in these new relationships. People no longer need to meet face-to-face to establish relationships any more. Today’s technological advances have now created a more efficient way for people to initiate relationships.

Arvidsson, Adam. (2006). Quality Singles: Internet Dating and the Work of Fantasy. New Media and Society, Volume 8, 671-690.

Here is a press release about internet dating:
http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/view_press_release.php?rID=18217

Here is also a couple internet dating sites:
http://www.match.com
http://www.eharmony.com


posted by Kayla Bratton @ 5:17 PM

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