Poll: Social networks are online 'pick-up joints'
by Stevie Smith - Feb 26 2009, 17:00
Join a social network, and get a little of this. Image: jonrawlinson/Flickr.
While a certain eminent UK neurologist is suggesting social networks are in danger of “infantilising” the minds of children, a new research study has revealed that 25 percent of adult Brits have connected with a partner by using the social platform provided by community-based Web sites.
More specifically, results released by Internet research company OnePoll have shown that one in four British people have met partners through sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, while a third have used social networks to rekindle relationships with old flames.
On the slightly more sordid side, the survey also revealed that around 10 percent of Brits have used social networks to engineer an illicit affair or even a one-night stand with another site member.
According to OnePoll, its results show that traditional locations used for meeting a possible partner, places such as pubs, bars and dance clubs, have now been superseded by hugely popular online destinations like Facebook and MySpace.
The study, which was conducted across 3,000 participants aged between 20 and 40 years of age, also revealed that almost 50 percent of those polled found it easier to meet someone virtually than face to face, while 57 percent said they felt more confident when flirting online.
While using online communities to meet people is often targeted by child safety activists eager to better protect minors from the advances of sexual predators, 39 percent of the OnePoll respondents said social networks enabled them get to know someone’s personality prior to committing to meeting them physically.
Further to that, some 75 percent of Brits admitted a preference for forging an online connection through social networking as it carries less of a stigma than when attempting to find love through a specific dating Web site.
“You can see why the appeal for finding love through social networking is so strong,” commented a spokesman for OnePoll. “You can see someone’s profile online, trawl through their personal pictures and see messages from their friends – creating a far greater impression of what that person is like than a traditional Internet dating site.”
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