Social Networking Or Online Dating?

I checked out an online dating site called Punk Match this week. Like a few other sites such as Club Emo, it was pretty shocking to find the site dominated by college-aged members. Younger people usually aren’t the majority at other dating sites but we have seen a huge rise in these types of alt dating sites. It turns out that younger people are using the internet in much different ways than the older generations. Instead of using online dating solely as a place to make initial contact with a potential hookup, the punks and emos of the world are creating entire dating platforms and communities. The goal is still to find a person for romantic interests. Yet, you get the dating aspect along with a whole social networking aspect. In some ways, Punk Match reminded me of sites like Facebook because there was so much communication happening between members. There were members organizing concerts, Vegan get toghethers and other punk mingling events. They look at the site more as a way of expanding their horizons and meeting people out of their everyday social circle. Even if you aren’t in the punk singles category, we could learn something about the way that these members at Punk Match are using the internet to revolutionize the idea of online dating.