By Manish Kumar
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Jan 12: Dating websites are slowly making a comeback despite an onslaught of social networking giants like Facebook and Google+.
Such sites, which had lost their appeal years ago, are now back in popular reckoning as thousands of young working professionals across the country who don’t get time to hook up with their social circle thanks to overworked jobs are logging on to these websites in the hopes of meeting someone interesting.
What seems to be the winning mantra for these dating sites is that members can approach others of the opposite sex with greater confidence, as the sole reason for anybody to be on such websites is to find an interesting partner.
“I shifted to the city nine months back as I got a job here. After college, most of my friends shifted to different cities and my social life became virtually non-existent. I found myself totally cut off from human interaction. Then my friend in Mumbai suggested me to register on a dating site where I’d meet interesting people. Initially I found the idea weird but I went through with it and have made some really good friends. It has done wonders to my social life,” says Anamika Mishra.
Another user, Sudipto Sen says, “Many people often hesitate to go for these sites as they think this is not a conventional way of meeting a date. But one needs to understand that nobody’s compelled to go for a date and that you can also make friends through these websites. I have friends who got married to their partners who they found on such websites. You only need to know the good dating sites.”
Like Sudipto and Anamika, there are many people in the city who have registered on such sites. Many prefer to chat online and many later decide to meet and prolong their relationship. The majority of the users of these dating sites are from metros, but Tier-II cities like Bhubaneswar are also catching up with this trend.
Those operating such websites are of the opinion that dating sites are becoming less of a taboo than they were some years back.
“When matrimonial websites started off, people were sceptical as they were uncomfortable with the thought of arranging marriages over the internet. With time, however, these sites became hugely popular. Dating sites too are treading a similar path. Dating as a concept was alien to India, and many equated it with finding just physical partners, but now more and more youngsters are finding such sites a great platform to meet interesting and like-minded people who can be good friends if not anything else,” says Sahana, marketing head of a dating website which started operations in 2011.
Jay Chahil, founder of another dating website says, “We have noticed that most visitors to our website are within the age group of 21 to 35. The younger generation now wants to explore more opportunities before they get hitched. They try to find like-minded people here and many later get married. The users range from students to working professionals.”
Legal experts however warn that not all is hunky-dory with such websites, as there is no foolproof mechanism to keep a tab on users which might result in one person maintaining several fake profiles.
“People need to be vigilant while using such websites. Youngsters can be lured and exploited. Proceed with caution,” says city-based lawyer Ashis Kumar Mukherjee.
Some dating sites ask for a membership fee, and users need to be careful while making payments, say cyber experts.