FROM THE WEB: ‘Cupid’s Arrows Fly on Social Media, Too’ – The New York Times

A New York Times article looks at people using social media to date, and speaks to the dating industry about whether the two can coexist.

Jenna Wortham’s friend Steven dated someone he met on Instagram, saying such social media gives you a more rounded, and less engineered, version of what someone is like.

A few dating sites have used Instagram-style photo feeds to build profiles, in order to give a better picture of someone’s personality, such as Dattch, Twine Canvas and Glimpse.

Last year’s Pew Research report found that 15% of people surveyed used social media to ask someone out on a date.

As Katie Heaney, author of Never Have I Ever and writer at Buzzfeed said: “While profiles on dating sites are often carefully contrived, people tend to let more of their individuality and personalities come through casual interactions on Twitter and Instagram.”

Wortham speaks to Aaron Schildkrout, co-founder of HowAboutWe – which is set to be acquired by IAC – who said that “the excitement of interacting with people you don’t know drives a lot of the behavior on the Internet. That is certainly not restricted to dating sites.”

Facebook also recently introduced an “Ask” button next to someone’s relationship status, fuelling speculation that the social network might move into more dating-orientated connections.

Read the article here.