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New Dating Service Covers Appalachian Area |
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Tuesday, 30 January 2007 |
by LINDSAY TIGAR
Lifestyles Intern
Forty million Americans, or about half the number of single adults in the United States, have visited an online dating service, according to a study conducted by U.S. News and World Report.
Residents
of a 150,000 square mile radius within North Carolina, Virginia, West
Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina now can enjoy a new
online dating service designed for their local area called
BlueRidgeConnections.com
Blue Ridge Connections covers over “150 towns including Boone and Blowing Rock,” G.A. Hensley, the service’s founder, said.
“The purpose of Blue Ridge Connections is to make meeting people a
little more realistic and achievable,” Hensley said. “Other sites like
E-Harmony and Match.com are national, and sure, you might meet someone
who matches you on twelve different personality levels, but they may
live in Japan.”
Blue Ridge Connections has a free 30-day trial for anyone over 18 who is interested in joining.
The site asks a variety of questions, including personal favorites and preferences in partners.
All of the photos and profiles must be approved before they are placed
online and will be scanned for suspicious or inappropriate materials,
Hensley said.
“Blue Ridge Connections isn’t only about dating either,” Hensley said.
“You can also search for friendship, a gym partner or someone to go on
a hike or climb with.”
According to www.searchforlove.com, also a dating Web site, 48 percent
of men and 53 percent of women have used an online dating service in
search of some sort of a date, friendship or more.
“Personally, I would not use an online dating service,” freshman international business major Bill B. Harris said.
“I’d rather meet people the traditional way, but it could help college
students because some people are shy and it’s a lot easier to say what
you want to say online,” he said.
Appalachian State University, Mars Hill College, University of North
Carolina at Asheville and University of North Carolina at Charlotte are
just a few examples of the colleges within four hours from Boone that
are included in the Blue Ridge Connections radius, Hensley said.
“I have used an online dating service,” freshman biology major Brad D.
Skinner said. “You can choose from a bigger variety of people and it’s
easier to search for what you want.”
However, some think that having a variety of singles to choose from is not equivalent to the benefits of traditional dating.
“I’d rather not use an online dating service,” freshman exercise
science major Maureen T. Linden said. “You do not find the same
connection online as you do in person.”
Blue Ridge Connections has only been up and running since the beginning
of the year and has yet to have a success story, but Appalachian
Students are encouraged to try it out, Hensley said.
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I've been a long time user of a free online dating site that has about 7,000 users around here called OkCupid (http://www.okcupid.com/static?...=109&c=167). I've gone on a lot of dates and met some really interesting people on OkCupid.