Easily digestible tech news... http://www.techdirt.com/ en-us http://www.techdirt.com/images/td-88x31.gifhttp://www.techdirt.com/ Mon, 8 Mar 2010 07:28:00 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100303/1515348397.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100303/1515348397.shtml pretty honest about themselves when creating social networking profiles. At the time, we noted that this might just be because on social networking sites people know they're connecting (mostly) with friends who already know them -- and then there are social mores against lying about yourself. However, we wondered if the same would be true on dating sites. We don't quite have the answer to that yet, but Nancy Baym points us to a study that says that daters who exaggerate about themselves are equally likely to exaggerate about themselves in real life as well. That is, the exaggeration has nothing to do with it being online, and everything to do with what kind of person they are.

Furthermore, the study found that those who lie online aren't doing it to necessarily be manipulative -- but because they want to better "fit in." So, it's more about appearing "normal," rather than appearing exceptional in some way.

Oh, and as for the overall amount of lying? It was actually "quite small," because the online daters hope to actually meet in person with the people they meet online, they know that lying in the dating profile will also quickly be discovered.

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]]> hate-the-player,-not-the-game http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100303/1515348397 Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:35:00 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100219/0330438238.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100219/0330438238.shtml people actually tend to be pretty honest in their social networking profiles. This really doesn't seem all that surprising when you think about it. I would guess that the results might be a bit different if they looked at dating sites, rather than social networking sites. On a social networking site, you're connecting with a lot of people you probably already really know in real life. As such, it makes little sense to present much of an idealized version of yourself, because your friends already know you -- and might even call you out for being fake. Still, as the report notes, there are still some people who believe that the norm is for people to lie about themselves, when the truth is that, in such realms, people really do tend to be pretty honest. And that's a good thing.

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]]> myth-debunked http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20100219/0330438238 Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:49:00 PST Mike Masnick http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071115/154501.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20071115/154501.shtml jerks online. But, it also means that for kids these days it's much easier to have potentially embarrassing conversations, such as asking someone out or dumping them. They just do it all online and don't have to deal with the immediate reactions. Some people, of course, find this horrifying, that people may never learn how to talk directly to others about potentially uncomfortable subjects, while others (mostly those who are uncomfortable talking to others about such things) find it to be quite liberating. Like most things, it seems like the type of thing that is useful in moderation -- as long as people recognize the signal that it sends out as well. For example, when it comes to dating, someone who is attracted to more confident people will actually find it a turnoff to be asked out this way -- meaning that as liberating as it is, it may actually be hurting some people's chances to become too reliant on hiding behind the keyboard. In the end, though, it really is just a tool -- and as people learn to use it appropriately it's hard to see how that's a problem.

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]]> in-keyboard-veritas http://www.techdirt.com/comment_rss.php?sid=20071115/154501