Webupon

My heart dropped a bit further down into the cavity of my chest. “OkCupid?? Excuse me? What the Hell are you doing on a dating site?” I asked my then-boyfriend of over a year.

“I’m just on it for the quizzes and personality awards.”

Huh? I was taken back. What guy really spends that much time taking personality quizzes? The whole scenario just didn’t make any sense to me. Could a site with a name like OkCupid really be used for platonic intentions? Apparently so!

After confronting my boyfriend about his actions on the site, I decided to create a phony account for myself. Fake picture, details, location, etc. I was simply curious at that point, and determined to view his profile. The site was quirky, fun, and I’ll admit I was a tad hooked. In order to view matches, the site has to “learn” about you. You feed the site information by answering questions and taking quizzes. Unlike other online dating sites, OkCupid has questions and quizzes created by its users. Who knows more about what people look for than the people who are looking, right? I answered multiple choice questions about my political views, sexual interests, hobbies, romantic interests, career goals, dreams, etc.

I spent an hour and a half easily on the site, and then decided to see what my matches looked like. I was really surprised to find that matches that had high scores were guys I would actually consider dating were I, in fact, single. I was also surprised that my boyfriend was not listed as a match for me at all. That realization quickly reminded me why I had signed up for the site to begin with.

I typed in his username and was disappointed. He, of course, had listed that he was single and looking for a local girl to date. Shame on him! After my fit of tears, I decided I would continue having fun and noticed shortly later that I received an OkCupid instant message. I found the IM service to be another brownie point for the site. Not only is the site entirely free, you don’t have to spend time typing out messages that really don’t represent you all that well. If you’re lucky enough to find someone you’re interested in online at the same time, just sit back and enjoy the chat session.

Now, the other cool part to the site is that you really can just look for friends. All you have to do is adjust your search settings. As far as I can tell, OkCupid is a site by the people, for the people. Whether you’re in a new location, need someone to get coffee with at Starbucks, or just want to see who is available to hang out in the area Saturday night, OkCupid is a great social networking tool. It is also available in Spanish.

Oh, and in case any of you are wondering, I did end up dating one of my “matches” after I broke up with the guy who was basically cheating on me online. We’ve been together for a year and engagement rumors are in the air! So, what are you waiting for? Go to OkCupid and take aim at your social life!