I think Pat Benatar had it right when she sang “love is a battlefield” almost thirty years ago. Love is, and will always be, a space for our hearts’ inner most fears and desires to be won or lost for all to see. Love is just that motivating, inspiring dangerous and sometimes, simply nuts. And Valentine’s Day brings all the vastness of love to a head and often times, leaves some of us out in the cold. That is, until social media showed up.
What with all the social media marketing efforts flying around for Valentine’s Day, such as being able to send loved ones an Angry Birds - themed Facebook valentine or sending a virtual gift from CBS’s Mad Love Facebook Page, it is easy to assume that Valentine’s Day has lost all of its remaining sentimental value. However, I would argue that social media is actually beneficial for all the lovers out there. With tools such as Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Yelp or even a recent startup (that connects to Facebook to help people find local & gift recommendations that match a loved one’s taste), making plans and sending gifts has become a simplified process. Now, there is really no worry (nor excuse) to not have plans, a gift or even a simple status update to showcase your love for another on Valentine’s Day.
Check out this video from Socialnomics to see just how easy social media has made it for anyone who needs to pull together great Valentine’s Day plans at the last-minute:
Now, if you are single on this heart-filled day, you might wonder “what about me?”, especially given some unsatisfactory results on large dating sites due to fake profilers and high subscription fees. Well, you’re in luck because social media can help you out too.
With all of the personal data available via social networks, it is much easier to leverage the information to establish safer & more reliable dating connections. One such way is through Facebook apps such as Matchmaker from Match.com. Or through dating network sites such as Zoosk and Gelato (the self-proclaimed “Friendfeed of dating”), that both pull in your social media data to help you find a better match. All of these developments, even with one as funny as Grouspawn (where you get $60k if you had a first date with a Groupon coupon that resulted in a baby), will continue to flourish and use social networking & its valuable data to establish great love connections. And if nothing else, at least it could be a great date story to share with your friends over Twitter, Facebook or even Flickr the next day.
So, the next time you are trying to win over a crush’s heart, solidify your love for your significant other or just not feel too lonely on Valentine’s Day, remember that social media is on your side — there to help you make love connections a bit easier to establish.
What do you think? Do social media platforms hinder or help on Valentine’s Day?
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