Social Networking Sites vs. Dating Sites

Filed in archive Dating Sites by Kathryn Vercillo on December 4, 2007

Almost everyone that you know is probably on a social networking sites. MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn ... if you do anything online then you're probably signed up with one of these sites. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you're dating on them. Should you be?

Social networking sites can be used for all different kinds of things. Most people who go on them are interested in staying in touch with old friends. Increasingly, people are also using these sites to network professionally in search of jobs or to build their small businesses by attracting clients. So it's not necessarily true that someone on a social networking site is interested in dating.

However, since there are so many people using these sites, a certain number of them are certainly interested in dating. Some people say that they prefer to meet people on social networking sites rather than on online dating sites because it gives them a chance to get to know people on a different level. When you're on a dating site, you talk mostly about dating. On a social networking site, you may cover dating along with a plethora of other topics.

On the other hand, you may develop a crush on someone in your social networking circle only to discover that they aren't interested in dating at all. That doesn't happen on an online dating site since everyone who is there is there to possibly date someone else. So the broader pool of people that you can find on an online dating site may actually be too broad.

Like with anything else, there are pros and cons to using either a social networking site or a dating site to meet people. Those folks who are serious about trying to find a date may discover that their luck is best when they use both types of sites to get results.

Question of the Day: Do online dating sites or social networking sites work better for you?

Related Entries:

Count Me In! - 18 June 2007
It Takes Lot of Social Networks to Make Up the World - 04 July 2007
7 Most Stunning Social Networking Sites - 19 October 2007
Online Dating Does Better on Facebook than on Own Sites - 29 January 2008
Would You Rather Use Social Networking Sites Or Dating Sites... - 07 May 2008

« Christmas Weekend Date Id... | Main | Safe Sex Passport »

Permalink: Social Networking Sites vs. Dating Sites

Tags: social networking myspace facebook sites dating meeting 2007 social+networking

Trackback: http://publish.creative-weblogging.com/publish/mt-tb.pl/104383

Addthis

Ask

Blinklist

del.icio.us

Digg

Fark

Facebook

Google

Lycos

Ma.gnolia

Mr Wong

Netscape

Netvousz

Newsvine

StumbleUpon

Slashdot

Tailrank

Technorati

Wink

Yahoo

Rating: 10.00 out of 2 vote(s) cast.

Response from: Alex Avrutin (03/21/08 5:39am)

I do believe in the convergence of dating sites and social networks.

Indeed, all social networks allow their members to find each other but some of those do it good and some of those do it bad. To make a social networking site a successful dating site, it must provide users with robust search tools that include not only search by name, age and location but also sexual orientation, married/not married status, sexual preferences and even occupation and income level.

Also, social network site must also provide an easy-to use yet robust instant messaging system. IM systems of many popular social networking sites really suck. To be fair, I need to mention that IM of many pure dating sites suck too (maybe that's why they do not usually appear in headlines).

Therefore social networks need to pay special attention to their dating/matching features to be successful in dating business. There is a good example of such social network: www.badoo.com.

There is another tendency: dating sites receive social networking features. That's how we plan to develop our dating start-up, www.tugetha.com.

Response from: SiteRapture (04/20/09 8:59pm)

Social networks will replace dating sites over the next 5 years unless dating sites adopt more social networking related features. The two are very similar in the first place but the networks with the most users will win (right now social networks dominate dating sites in terms of user traffic). There is a good list of social networking sites and dating sites at a website directory called SiteRapture - http://www.siterapture.com

Social Networking Websites List:
http://www.siterapture.com/categorymain.asp?CategoryID=1

Dating Websites List:
http://www.siterapture.com/categorymain.asp?CategoryID=57

Response from: statistics help (09/22/09 10:06pm)

Very very good list of social networking sites. Probably the best so far i have seen on the internet.
Thank you so much

Response from: adultdatingsite (10/11/09 4:54pm)

I think that social networks with niche features such as http://xadultbook.com
will replace some dating sites, but players like facebook and twitter who have growing market shares might completely replace dating sites all together!

Response from: Top UK Dating Site (12/29/09 9:02am)

online dating and social networking sites are common on the web. Though online dating focused only to those who are looking for a date, a man or a girl while social networking composing of all kinds of socialization. social networking can also be used as a means of profit, promotion and all business purposes.

Response from: Irish Dating Site (01/18/10 8:59am)

Social networks are providing features to use them as if they were dating sites indeed. But most recently I saw few 100% dating website turning into social networks slightly.

People start adding their friends and family on dating websites and chat with them as they would do on social networks.

Is this a consequence of the *web 2.0* phenomenon?
Is dating only website and web 2.0 incompatible?

We are running a site designed for women and we are affected by this problematic.

Response from: Sweet-Partners (02/22/10 1:37am)

Hi
Social networking sites, are not monitored the same as dating sites, from experience I know on dating sites all profiles are checked thoroughly and manually.