practicum Post 4_Morgan Wille

So far I have written on my experiences with my other social networking sites, Gotryiton.com and dailybooth.com. My third social networking site I joined was eHarmony.com. I decided to check out this site because I was interested in the whole online dating process and interested in finding out more about the people on these sites, why they choose online dating, and how its different from real world dating. First of all I just want to start by saying that the registration process was SUPER long. It took me over 2 hours to fill out all the questionaires and surveys. They asked me every question you could think of. This really was interesting because it shows that they really try to match people on every aspect of compatibility. After I signed up and was introduced to my profile, I was completely overwhelmed. The system said it matched me with over 245 people and wanted me to start communicating right away. Over the course of a couple days I noticed that its not a traditional way to meet someone, but its very unique. Instead of sending an email saying your interested, you go through a 5 step guiding process that sets you up for a date/email. You start by sending a person 5 questions that you pick from on the database. They send back and answers and questions for you. Then you send back your answers and your top ten must haves and cant haves. Again the process repeats itself and you go into open ended questions and finally the last step is an email. I've noticed that most people are super serious about settling down and finding "mr/mrs right". It also makes a difference if you have a picture. I almost find it reassuring if someone has 5 or more pictures of them because you really can believe its them. However, I understand people's concern of privacy which is why my profile doesn't show my picture either, it just has a sign that says "ask me to send a picture". So far I have found out some really interesting things about online dating and can understand why some people do it. Its really a whole different way to date that doesn't mess around if your not interested in someone. I'm still learning more about the site but so far it has been really eye-opening and interesting.