Commentary

The Landscape Of Love Online

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Today is the day when you grab ahold of that "special someone" and tell them you love them (hey -- you know who you are)! Love is in the air, it's flying all around and it makes you feel all tingly inside, so why not explore a little of the landscape of love online!

Of course, navigating the landscape of love online is a tricky business. You can skirt dangerously close to some of the outer fringes of the Web... the places we try not to talk about in polite conversation (much less write about in Online Spin). That being said, I think we can manage to keep it clean for the purposes of our conversation here today!

First off, there are the obvious places to go: the match-making sites. Match.comPerfectMatch, eHarmony and many others all come to mind as places where people can venture to find their "one true love." These sites are interactive, easy to use, the stigma associated with being on them is gone -- and they've proven to be quite effective at helping you find someone to date. They also provide an entertainment factor as well, since many people browse around just to see if they can find their friends on the site!

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Once we get past the obvious, we can find the strange, yet fun sites. I don't mean the places where fetishistic exploration happens, but the kinds of places where the long tail really applies and people who love something can express their love in a platonic, cutesy sort of way. The one that comes to mind first is Dogster. This site allows people to create profiles for their dogs and express their love for man's best friend. Of course, not to be outdone, we can find Catster for the feline members of your family.

For those of you who haven't yet found that connection with a pet or a significant other, you can always express your love for a few of your favorite things. For example, there are certainly millions of people that visit sites like these on a daily basis:

What's most important is that you take the time today to sit back and say "I love you" to someone. This Hallmark holiday is one that polarizes people one way or the other, but all in all is still a great, uplifting mark on the calendar.

Happy Valentine's Day "G," and Happy Valentine's Day to all the rest of you!

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