Does Facebook Hurt or Enhance Your Love Life?

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Social networks like Facebook are eclipsing bars and clubs as a channel through which singles connect. While Facebook can help one find love, it can also break relationships.

In 2009, Kelly and Kelly Hildebrandt got hitched. The two had found each other on Facebook after a Florida woman got curious when she found that she shared the same first and last names with someone in Texas. She sent him a friend request and their friendship soon blossomed into love.

Think you too could find love on Facebook? Why not? Facebook has over 600 million users to date (pun intended) and is practically open to all countries save China, Vietnam and a few others. While we don't have an estimate of how many singletons exactly are on the social networking giant, Gawker.com revealed that last year, 43,869,800 users changed their relationship status to Single, while only 28,460,516 modified theirs to a relationship. This means that Facebook's dating pool is comprised of about 15 million members! If you and four of your friends could manage to score a date with just 0.00001 percent of that number, your nights will be fully booked for a whole month!

If you and 4 of your friends could manage to score a date with just 0.00001% of Facebook's dating pool, your nights will be fully booked for a whole month!

Social networking sites like Facebook have revolutionized the dating landscape and made finding love more interesting and convenient. In fact, give these social networks a little more time and they just might eclipse bars and clubs as the favorite channels through which singles connect with other singles. According to OnePoll.com, 1 in 4 Britons have found dates in community websites like Facebook, 3 in 10 have rekindled romance with an ex, while 1 in 10 have had an affair with someone they met on social networks.

The ease with which people connect on Facebook makes it a gem for date seekers. If an attractive guy or gal sends you a friend request and you click the accept button whether you personally know the person or not, that could already be a step toward finding a new love interest. It's a more covert way of putting yourself up on the dating market than, let's say, prowling bars and clubs or signing up for dating websites.

Many people also feel more confident about meeting people on Facebook first before actually seeing them in person. You get to observe the person from a distance -- checking his/her profile and interaction with friends for clues as to what makes the person tick. User's profile information on social networks is generally considered more comprehensive and more representative of what the person really is than in dating websites. And guys, it saves you the expense of buying flowers and chocolates until you decide that the connection is promising enough to finally meet her face to face!

  • :) Easy to connect with people
  • :) You get to observe the person from a distance
  • :) More comprehensive than dating websites
  • :( Easy to run into an ex on Facebook
  • :( Relationship status can be a source of contention

Facebook love stories, however, don't always have a happy ending. You could find love on Facebook, but you could also lose love on it. It's common for ex-lovers to cross each others' path on Facebook, sometimes innocently and sometimes as a result of months of stalking on the part of either party. This often drives their spouses mad with jealousy.

A law firm in the U.K. said Facebook figures in 1 out of 5 divorce petitions they process. One woman's marriage ended in divorce after she discovered that her husband was having an affair with someone he met on the social network. And then, another woman got the shock of her life when her husband announced on Facebook that he was divorcing her!

Even Facebook's seemingly harmless relationship status feature has been the cause of many a breakup. Many girls were chagrined to find that their boyfriends were still using the single status several months into the relationship, fueling a series of fights where paranoia and distrust becomes the daily norm.

Relationship experts suggest that if you consider finding love on Facebook, tread its dating waters carefully. Don't be too quick to friend just about anyone and make sure the other person is a bona fide single, has no criminal record, and is mentally sound before things get too deep. Also, between rekindling a past relationship that had gone bad and making a fresh start with anyone, the experts vote goes to the latter.

Does Facebook Hurt or Enhance Your Love Life?
5 Opinion