SEO Show Description
The do’s and don’ts of Googling your date before, and during a date, and while you’re dating.
Teaser Bullets
by the end of this episode you’ll learn:
- Is Googling your date right or wrong?
- How can you find out the most information about your date before you meet?
- Googling horror stories
Describe the problem
The Internet is a beautiful thing, connecting us and giving us information like never before. In some ways, this is a good thing…especially for those who are dating, since it gives access to an entirely new set of people to date. In other ways, it’s a bad thing, since it gives us access to, you know, an entirely new set of people to date. So should we observe boundaries or give people the “benefit of the doubt” when meeting potential new dates (both on and off the Internet?) or can we save ourselves a whole lotta trouble by just going to Uncle Google and vetting our future ex-Mrs. Young?
Segment #1
-
- Is Googling your date right or wrong?
- Glamour.com
- Why You Should Stop Googling Your Dates
- You get too judge-y – The more you learn about someone, the harsher you may judge him, according to one study. For example, Google might find that your new guy likes soccer, bourbon, andLost reruns (hey, you too!). But it also reveals he was president of his fraternity (and you weren’t into the Greek scene). Once you learn that one thing you don’t like about him, you tend to latch onto it, the study showed, and now those photos you unearth of him playing beer pong with his buddies are more likely to strike you as further evidence that he’s just too fratty for you.
- Why You Should Stop Googling Your Dates
- SheKnows.com
- Glamour.com
- Is Googling your date right or wrong?
- Save googling for after the date – Go into the date with an open mind, minus any pre-conceived notions. At some point you are going to want to Google your date to verify what he told you. But get to know him first. Go on at least one date, and try to hold out for two or three. Google is an authority on the mating habits of tree frogs in the Amazon and can help you find Chinese food in your area; Google can never replace Mother Nature, your heart or your brain.
You can also post your comments on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/haverelations.
Segment #2
- How can you find out the most information about your date before you meet?
- HowAboutWe.com
- The Complete Guide to Googling Your Date (Or Crush. Or Ex. Or Cute Barista. Or….)
- Google Your Date + College They Attended – If googling your date’s name results in thousands of hits for “Brad Smith,” and you’re just looking for dirt on the right Brad Smith, try searching their name with the college they attended. It’ll be easier to make sure that you’ve got the right guy, plus you might get all kinds of vintage goodies: sports teams they played on, radical political groups they were affiliated with, quotes in their college newspaper (“Brad Smith, a sophomore, also thinks the tuition hike is excessive…”), fraternities they were in which got discredited due to unscrupulous hazing practices…..
- Google Their Username – If you met your date online, try Googling their username. A satisfying username takes forever to come up with, so a lot of people have a username that they use for everything from online dating sites to comment boards to Yelp to basically anything they don’t want to have show up on a Google Search of their name. (HA, as if that would stop you from finding it.)
- Don’t Google More Than 2 Pages Deep – I know I literally just suggested Googling someone’s username so that you can read, like, the oeuvre that is their Gawker Comments, but that is probably overkill for a first date. If you’re in the early stages of getting to know someone, there is really no reason to go more than 2 Google pages deep, as bloodthirsty for knowledge as you may be. A cursory look at their Twitter, blog, work associations, and any other hits that would come up on the first or second page is permissible. Thoroughly investigating every single place their name appears on the internet is overkill. (Just to be clear: I have absolutely done this.)
- The Complete Guide to Googling Your Date (Or Crush. Or Ex. Or Cute Barista. Or….)
- HowAboutWe.com
- Googling horror stories
- LasVegas.GreatlocalNews.com
- 7 Nightmarish Anecdotes That Prove It’s Worth Googling Your Dates
- Found out his blog was from prison
- Found out that they were related
- A Mug Shot
- 7 Nightmarish Anecdotes That Prove It’s Worth Googling Your Dates
- LasVegas.GreatlocalNews.com
You can also post your comments on our Twitter page at www.twitter.com/haverelations.
Final Thoughts:
- Elijah’s Thoughts
- Sarah’s Thoughts
In Closing
In closing, on behalf of my fantastic co-host, Sarah J. Storer, author of “How to be Dumped: The Definitive Breakup Guide” I want to thank you for spending time with us today, now let’s continue the conversation at relationspodcast.com/[ShowNumber] and:
Final Question:
Should you Google date, yes or no…and why?
Tell us about it in the comment section and let’s see if we can’t continue to relate to one another. We’ll talk soon.
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