Americansingles.com is a medium through which men and women, ages 18 to 99, can meet other people virtually for many reasons including dating, marriage, or just wanting a companion. This virtual world which people are able to communicate through leads one to believe that the targeted viewers, or audience, is singles in America seeking other singles for some kind of relationship. This is an assumption that many make when going on this site since everyone is listed in America and why else would someone go on this site unless they were looking for a date. There are major flaws with this medium though which prevent someone from knowing whether or not someone is truthful.
The website itself is virtual, so there is no real parts to it. This turns anyone who goes onto the site virtual as well. The people talking aren't actually virtual, but the medium itself transforms people into virtual characters inside a virtual world. The consequence of this is a virtual person can be made for things such as advertising or pranks. From research done on americansingles.com, researchers were instant messaged by virtual "women" and asked to view their web cam videos. This seemed intimidating for the researchers since they did not want to show themselves on a web cam. The conversation ended at this point because the researchers would be sent to web cam porn sites. This situation is very strange at first glance, but is not a very surprising result if you know about the major internet usages.
According to an internet pornography filter, 42.7% of internet users viewed porn in 2006. This brought in 4.9 billion dollars in sales. These numbers show that there is a significant advantage in selling web cam porn on a dating website. The audience is assumed to be lonely and single, men and women. This is an opportune medium for someone who sells virtual sex because their targets are not having sex and they're 18 or older. To prove this point, one of the largest websites on the internet is an adult dating website called adultfriendfinder.com which is the 42nd most viewed website out of 175 million websites on the internet. According to these numbers, more people want to view "sex and swinger personals"(adultfriendfinder.com), then "Online dating, romance and friendship"(americansingles.com) websites.
With this knowledge, one may now assume that not only are the users of americansingles lonely and single, but 2 in 5 users are interested in virtual sex according to the internet pornography filter. Since advertisers for pornography websites know this, they are able to manipulate single internet users into going on their website giving them the impression they will find a relationship easily. Then they make virtual characters that will try to persuade users to view their site. They make everything seem free upfront, but it ends up costing in the long run. This is no different from the real world though. For example, you can go to a store for free, but if you want anything then you have to pay. The workers make virtual personalities to persuade you to buy their products, even ones you do not really want, but are related to what you are buying. The difference between the two mediums is you know who the sells person is at a store. On a dating website, the seller can be anyone. Also a dating websites world allows the seller to change his appearance along with his personality.
Altogether, a dating website is not safe from advertisers and porn, therefore it is not a reliable dating medium. It can be potentially dangerous for some, since they can be tricked into paying for something they thought was free. People will continue to use dating websites though because it is easier to live in this virtual world called the internet because not only can others change themselves, but so can you.
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John, I can tell you had many different things going on in your mind when writing this post. The ideas you broach seem interesting, but feel a little scattered at times. What is the main argument of the post? Are you attempting to persuade *your* audience that Internet dating sites are not immune to pornography, and so on? This does not seem like novel information for most people, right? I appreciate your use of examples and statistics, but I am a little confused about this general audience of "researchers"--are you referring to yourself?
There are other terms you employ here and you need to be careful not to assume your audience knows what you mean. For example, you are too fast and loose with "virtual" and "real." What is the real world, for example? What is a reliable dating medium? How is it easier to live in a virtual world than in the "real" one? I needed to see these points more developed in the post.
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