Meeting people online isn’t a new thing in 2010. In fact, it’s practically old hat. For years, we’ve connected via Facebook and Twitter and MySpace. (Though if you are still using MySpace, I think you need to re-evaluate a few things… Namely why you choose to hang out on the internet’s version of a trailer park.) We go to Tweetups and meet people with common interests using sites like meetup.org. Yet openly admitting to giving online dating a try still seems slightly skeevy.

But I’m not ashamed to say I’ve gone the online dating route off and on since the early aughts. Fellow verb staffer Aimee Brock gave it a go and even wrote about her experiences for this very site. I can think of a handful of friends who have met (and married) their significant others thanks to online dating. And if I’m going to really get personal, I should probably confess that I met my boyfriend that way too (via a slightly crazy dating experiment I cooked up when I was writing for NakedCity magazine).

Looking for love on the interwebs isn’t easy. It’s time consuming, frustrating, and sometimes heartbreaking. But it can also be fun. And since it worked for me, I think it’s perfectly acceptable to offer my expertise and a little advice to anyone willing to take the chance and log on to find love. So here we go:

1. You get what you pay for. The degree of commitment someone is looking for is usually commensurate with the amount they’re willing to pay. OkCupid is a free site full of time wasting surveys and booty calls waiting to happen. A month on Match.com or Yahoo Personals will cost the same as a steak dinner and is great for casual daters. But if you’re really looking to meet your “soulmate” (and you’re willing to drop fifty bones a month), e-Harmony is probably your best shot.
2. Don’t invest a lot of time. If you live in the same city as the dude or lady you’ve struck up an online flirtation with, meet them for coffee or a drink. There is absolutely no reason why you should exchange lengthy emails for three months before meeting IRL (that’s “in real life” for you non-geeks) when all that’s separating the two of you is a 15-minute drive across Wichita. The longer you continue your online correspondence, the more invested you’ll become in the idea of each other and the more let down you’ll be if it doesn’t work out. So don’t waste your time. Schedule a casual date over a couple of beers and see if the chemistry exists away from the keyboard. If not, it’s time to move-on.com.
3. Don’t take it personally. I know it might feel like rejection when you spot a cute guy or girl online, send them some sort of “flirt” or “wink” and then never receive any reciprocal contact. It’s not. They’re just not that into your online dating profile. And, really, when all you know about someone is that they photographed well in 2007 and have the ability to write a few witty blurbs, you really don’t know them at all. And if you don’t know them and they don’t know you, it’s not personal.
4. Women are better at the selection process. This is a completely unscientific statement, but I firmly believe women are better at choosing their mates than men are. Women have long lists of “must-haves” when it comes to their ideal guy. They’re able to detect whether or not the possibility exists for long term compatibility. Men are just simply looking for someone they find attractive, who will be supportive and who doesn’t nag. And if the success of Bachelorettes vs. Bachelors on the ABC reality TV series is any representation that women are better at picking significant others, I think we can all agree that I’m right. So ladies, don’t be shy. Send emails to the guys you think you’d hit it off with and be confident
5. Dating is a numbers game. It sounds so cold and completely unromantic, but it’s true. The more people you go out with, the more likely you are to find someone you’ll want to keep dating. This is why #2 is so important – don’t invest a lot of time. Go out and enjoy getting to meet new people. At the very least you’ll have a good time and make new friends while looking for Mr. or Ms. Right.

According to The New York Daily News, 30% of Americans have given online dating a try. So if any stigma still exists, it shouldn’t. With one-third of us entering the online dating trenches, I gotta know – have you tried online dating? Did it work for you?

Related posts:

1. [date] Meeting My Match: Part 1
2. [date] Meeting My Match: Deal Breaker
3. [date] Meeting My Match: Part Deux
4. [date] Meeting My Match: A New Hope
5. [do] Cheap Date: Palace Theatre West