Online Dating Sites and You as Date Bait?
Every week, we meet clients that have tried and failed to find themselves a perfect online match. Online dating sites don’t work for them and so they seek out an alternative. That’s where our professional Irish matchmaking services come in handy. We’ve exposed some of online dating sites’ ugly secrets (e.g. date bait and scams) in other articles. Today, we want to make sure your profile appears only on the online dating site that you have subscribed to.
You may be thinking to yourself – why would my online dating profile appear anywhere besides the site that I’ve signed up for? It’s possible and it’s actually a big business. These online dating sites don’t exist simply to find you a match. There’s a ton of money to be made with an online dating site. There’s advertisements that can be sold, mailing lists that they can sell your information to, and of course, the subscription fees that they charge – even if you are unsuccessful in finding a match.
Avoid Being Copied & Pasted by Online Dating Sites
Don’t Let Yourself Become Date Bait
It’s stressful enough wondering if the profile you’ve just viewed on an online dating site is real, without the almost existential uncertainty about how your identity has been used (or misused) in multiplicity!
Here are two helpful hints for making sure that your profile remains only in one spot.
Read the fine print.
We know these pesky terms of use agreements are long and filled with foreign terms. Your natural instinct may be to click ‘Yes’ and move on – but this could have negative consequences. If you read the fine print, many of the online dating sites state that they have the right to any and all of your information. They can use your photos in any advertisements, sell your information to another site, and even reveal your personal messages.
Is the site independent or part of a larger online dating site corporation?
A number of dating sites are actually owned by a larger company. This means while you may have personally signed up to one site, you’ve actually given access to your information to a larger company that owns many online dating sites. As part of your agreement to utilize their services, you’re actually signing up for that site and more. If you look at the bottom of most sites, you’ll find out their contact information and ownership information.
Don’t Put Your Heart(s) on a Hook
We’d all like to think that online services were upfront about their dealings. Unfortunately, many make most of their money from your profile. You are part of the product in online dating sites! If you’re going to go the online dating route, be sure to review their terms of use and ownership information prior to signing up. Otherwise, you may be surprised to hear from a friend that they saw your profile on a site that you’ve never even joined.