In this increasingly technological world we live in, it seems the romance of finding one's 'true love'? has vanished. In the past, you typically met people through positive referrals from friends or family members. Nowadays, social media and other online chat portals have made it easy for people to meet each other without ever having to be face-to-face or even live in the same state. Websites such as Match.com and eHarmony.com are pools for singles to gather and meet virtually--putting fate and Cupid out of business. At first glance, the world of online dating could intimidate someone, but realistically is there a better place to meet someone than the place we spend most of our time? The 'Secret Formula'? Taking it a step further, an article was recently published in Elle's January issue about a digital strategist who turned online dating into an exact science. She revealed her fool-proof recipe for creating the perfect online profile and hooking the perfect online match. As she goes on about creating the perfect username or the 'best'? profile description, it may seem as though online dating has become just a tool to self advertise by embellishing or even dumbing down aspects about yourself. In reality, it has; but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Keywords are needed to track down what you're looking for. By using the right words to describe yourself, your perfect match can find you. She talks about the using just the right amount of these descriptive words to obtain the ideal response. A New Generation of Dating Although younger generations utilize dating websites, Match.com and other similar sites tend to be geared toward a slightly older crowd. As for the 20-somethings, we have our own'much less committal'virtual dating universe. Aside from the worlds of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, a new iPhone App, Tinder, recently surfaced and caught on mostly because of its simplicity. Once you've signed up through your Facebook account, you can view potential 'matches'? in your surrounding area (using the location services on your mobile phone) via a slideshow format. Once you are introduced to your "matches," you can anonymously 'like'? or 'dislike'? each picture that shows on your screen. If they happen to "like" you back, then you find out if they are a "match." After this happens you're free to message him or her through the app to get to know them better'or just to say 'What's up?'? It's essentially if someone turned "Hot or Not" into a dating service. Check it out here. Is This For Real? You may think that this is all making the way people meet or fall in love more impersonal, but online dating and virtual messaging are completely in line with the times. How many hours a day do we spend glued to our iPhones, iPads and MacBooks, anyway? In a society that places such a heavy emphasis on technology, it's not surprising that we've moved from meeting people the old fashioned way to meeting people on the internet (or right on our iPhones).
Who says chivalry is dead? At least it's not on Twitter ' according to the top tweet on Boston's trending topic 'valentinesday'? on the 14th: What more could a girl ask for on Valentine's Day?! A perfect gentleman and a Big Mac ' check. It is true, social media has even changed Valentine's Day. On February 14 Valentine's Day dominated many news feeds as Twitter erupted with tweets of love as well as tweets of contempt for what many dubbed yesterday on the Twittosphere as the 'Hallmark Holiday.'? Who needs Cupid when there's Twitter? In 2008, Twitter added a new feature especially for the holiday of love ' Valentine tweets. Each time a user sent a message directed at someone (@username), and added a <3 symbol, the person hearted would be asked if they 'heart' back via a giant 'YES' button. Valentine's Day: Not just for Hallmark anymore Of course, you do not have to be Hallmark to benefit from Valentine's Day. Regardless of the diverse reactions to Valentine's Day on Twitter, many companies, such as Hershey's, Macy's and AT&T to name just a few, took advantage of the Holiday to promote their products through Twitter this year. Even Coca Cola didn't miss the chance to send out some V-day love with a sponsored top tweet. Here are just a few highlights of this year's V-day Twitter promotions: AT&T: 'Shout your love from the mountaintop.'? The campaign began Thursday and encouraged users to post declarations of love to AT&T's Facebook page. In turn, on Valentine's Day AT&T's mountain men would pick some posts to 'shout'? from the top of Mount Baldy in Southern California using HTC Inspire 4G phones. The hashtag #LoveShout was also paid for on Twitter as a promoted trend. My M&M's: Promoted personalized M&M's as a way to get a message across that may be hard to say using the M&M character Red, who has trouble showing his emotional side. Along with a variety of digital and traditional media used in the promotion, M&M used the Twitter handle MyMMscom as a way for users to share gift ideas and get discount codes for the candies. Macy's: The Sweetest Tweets Contest (Macy's first promotional contest through Twitter) prompted users to interact with the brand by tweeting love notes using the #sweetesttweets hashtag. The winner receives a three-stone diamond ring. Pizza Hut: Using the hashtag #iluvPH, users tweeted their best pick-up lines for a chance to win a free order of Pizza Hut's Hershey chocolate dunkers. Hershey's: Hershey's Valentine's Day Twitter Party. Using the #Hersheys tag on Twitter on February 3 users followed hostess @ResourcefulMom who was joined by representatives from The Hershey Company to chat about Hershey's Valentine's Day gifts and give away prizes. The grand prize being a Blu-ray player, two romantic comedies and, of course, a variety of Hershey's Valentine's treats. Hallmark (UK): Repeated last year's Twittermantic competition: By following @HallmarkUK and tweeting a romantic verse to them using the hashtag #TM for a chance to win a romantic weekend break.
