Don Henkins
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Online dating. If you're single in today's world, you've had experience with this subject. Maybe you've tried it and decided it wasn't for you. Maybe it's the primary way you meet potential new romantic partners. Maybe it's just one of many ways you meet someone with the intent to explore a budding new romance. Even if your only experience with online dating is knowing it exists and deciding against it completely. The fact remains, it's a big topic for singles of the 21st Century.
But online dating is more than just a way to meet a potential love interest, it's a big business and growing. According to CNBC's article The Big Business of Online Dating:
IAC/Interactive Corp // [IACI 23.06 0.31 (+1.36%) ] ...Match sites, which includes Match.com and Chemistry.com generated $343 million in revenue this year, reporting 1.4 million active subscribers, about 15 percent of the market.
With these kind of numbers behind the business of online dating, it's no wonder that ancillary services and sites are popping up. These services target the members of online dating sites with a value proposition of making the experience easier/faster/better/more successful. These are enterprising individuals and/or companies that are cashing in on the success of online dating.
One such service is that of Virtual Online Dating Assistants. In short, these assistants do the leg-work of creating your personal profile and engaging in conversations with potential dates. Once the connection is made and the other member agrees to a live date, the member takes it from there.
I came across this concept in this article from SingleEdition.com while monitoring the daily news topics that effect the life of single parents. As Founder of the Strong Single Mom Network, I'm constantly on the lookout regarding things to alert our members on, and a big topic in the world of single parenting is love relationships.
Some are consumed with finding the next Mr. or Mrs. Wonderful, some avoid romance like the plague. For most single parents, however, this issue is like any other. It's important, but in balance with all the other aspects of maintaining life in the Land of Single Parenthood.
But with the knowledge of this new service, I can't help but wonder if online dating is really such a great idea. After all, most single parents will engage this service because life is busy and hectic. It's not always that easy to get out and meet people by chance, especially when your kids are with you. But if we're at risk of "falling for" someone's Online Dating Virtual Assistant's creativity, and not the person themselves, is the virtual dating world really saving time? Or is it simply a new way to be misled and waste time in a quest for romantic love?
For the most part, the development of this new service simply brings up age-old advice for dating. No matter how or where you meet someone, be aware that the "best-foot-forward" version is not necessarily the best representation of who this man or woman really is. Relationships need time to develop, and what may appear as love at first sight is often a mirage. I'm not saying it's impossible, but having a relationship last long term that begins as a whirlwind romance is the exception, not the rule.
Stay true to yourself. Your instincts can be trusted. Make sure you are seeing any potential new romantic partners for who they really are, not who you wish them to be. After all, with the existence of Virtual Dating Assistants, the person you are getting to know may not be the person you think they are...literally.
