Internet dating has really grown into a big business within the last decade or so. I dont even know how many dating websites there are available out there, I just know it's more than a handful. To some, internet dating may seem like the only way to find "your soulmate," and although it seems completely legitimate, there are some cautions.
Enter "Catfish." "Catfish" was created as a result of a surprisingly popular documentary movie. It documents a man named Nev Schulman, and his experience with a long distance relationship. What he thought was the truth turned out to be nowhere near the case. The girl he thought was someone else, turned out to be a much older woman running multiple Facebook profiles at once. After the surprising success of the movie, Nev started receiving hundreds of emails from people who were in online relationships. MTV picked up the tv show to tell the story of online dating through real peoples experiences.
To avoid an insanely long post I will skip to some of the harsh realities often found in online dating. Quite frankly many people don't advertise exactly who they are online; many post pictures of unknown and/or random people that they feel people want to see and talk to. Some people even go to the length of creating multiple fake profiles to make their main profile more convincing.
With all the skepticism that is associated with online dating, there are some steps you can take to ensure the person you are talking to is in fact who they say they are.
1. Probably the best way to verify if someone is real is to Skype with them. If the person conveniently doesn't have access to a computer, or something always comes up when you try to Skype, you may have a problem.
2. Verify information. What I mean by this is simply do some research. If they have an employer, call the employer to see if they ever worked there. Contact people who seem like good friends with the person to verify if their stories check out. (this may not always work if the person has multiple profiles)
3. Do a simple Google picture search. Google now allows people to search by pictures that are saved on their computer or through image urls from websites. You can do a simple search and Google will pull up images with the same person in them (if any exist). So if someone has stolen pictures from a random Facebook profile, both the real one and the fake one will show up with names (usually), and you will know that the person you're talking to might not be who they say they are.
The point is, when it comes to the internet, a lot is possible, and even more can be faked. So when or if you're talking to someone online (that you've never met), always be weary that what you see, may not always be what you get.
I appreciate those who stuck around and read this whole spiel; sorry for the rambling.
Until next time...
Chris...
It should be noted that I have some experience in this area (unfortunately). I had/have (not really sure anymore) a "catfish." I dont mean that as a bad thing, I am just adopting the term "catfish" as reference to someone across the country I have yet to meet. In no way do I think she wasnt who she said she was, I have no reason to think otherwise. However since I do have some experience with this topic I felt it only appropriate that I be the one blogging about it...
ReplyDeleteI suppose this information is just excess I wanted to put in my post, but would have made an already long post into a ridiculously long post.
Anyways, that is all. I promise.
Great post. I believe this topic is gaining more popularity not only because of the MTV show but because of the football player. Checking for your images on Google is great advice.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard about the Notre Dame football player until you mentioned it. I was just looking it up on Google. The whole hoax seemed kind of heartless in my opinion. Playing with peoples emotions whether for good or bad reasons typically doesnt end well. In this case though the whole hoax turned out to make him play quite well. He used all the emotion and put it towards his talent and he ended up being 2nd in the running for the Heisman trophy. So I suppose this case has a silver lining.
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