People use Facebook as a dating site?

[gunhilltrain]

I've ignored my profile for years, but I've found some interesting historical photos on it recently. Most of the people commenting there now are "old people yelling at clouds" as I think that expression goes. (If I hear one more time that was a mistake to demolish NY's Penn Station . . .). Yet I get some young or youngish-looking women who want to befriend me. It can't be based on any comments I've made there. Are they looking for some wealthy or at least financially-secure sugar daddy? They've certainly gone to the wrong person for that.

 

[Wifetheif]

I don't use Facebook for dating nor do I put much that is personal on it. HOWEVER, a number of years ago, I was contacted through Facebook by the widow of a friend of mine who had passed away. Years before, when my wife of the time and I had to wait months for settlement on our own house, we lived in the same house as she and her husband. I had NO idea she thought of me in those term before she contacted me.(I had been divorced in the interim) We quickly moved our conversation off Facebook. We had a short, passionate fling. It turned out she viewed her late husband as just as much of a jerk as I did. Which was surprising. Just like it surprised me after my divorce to hear my friends and family admit that they could not stand my ex-wife and were only nice to her because of me.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

You'll find those women on almost every social media site. I have a dozen "following" me on "X;" I presume they're just looking for old men to "sponsor" them in some way. A few have "liked" some post of mine, but they never discuss it any further.

 

[HordHolm]

I teach a group of approx 20 young people - all but one are 19/20 years old - on a foundation course. Every single one of them has a Facebook account. Not one of them regularly uses it.*

Make of that what you will, but in my experience hardly anybody under the age of 30 (and thus, the prime - of course, not only - group for dating) ever bothers with their FB account. To them, it is an old person's site.

* we have to hammer it into their heads that they need to use their university email, as well, and they have a hard time grasping that Whatsapp isn't an ideal tool for formal communication.

 

[Britva415]

I get some young or youngish-looking women who want to befriend me

People you know? Or, complete strangers?

 

[StillStunned]

Yet I get some young or youngish-looking women who want to befriend me. It can't be based on any comments I've made there. Are they looking for some wealthy or at least financially-secure sugar daddy? They've certainly gone to the wrong person for that.

I get that on LinkedIn. I even get it here on Lit. The only reason I don't get it on Facebook is that I don't have an account there.

 

[TheLobster]

These are basically all spambots.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've ignored my profile for years, but I've found some interesting historical photos on it recently. Most of the people commenting there now are "old people yelling at clouds" as I think that expression goes. (If I hear one more time that was a mistake to demolish NY's Penn Station . . .). Yet I get some young or youngish-looking women who want to befriend me. It can't be based on any comments I've made there. Are they looking for some wealthy or at least financially-secure sugar daddy? They've certainly gone to the wrong person for that.

Probably lonely-hearts scammers. My partner keeps getting friend requests from doctors, oil-rig engineers and soldiers who decide she's her soulmate, and a few days later suddenly it's "it's my son's birthday and I can't access my money from my oil rig, can you please buy a gift card for him and I'll pay you back?"

 

[OffNSFW]

I am in a Facebook polycule with my former roommate's grandmother, my friend's band that broke up 10 years ago, and Vrbo.com.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My wife and I went to the same high school, graduated from the same class of over 830 students, and didn't know each other. We met on Facebook while working on our 40th high school reunion. We messaged each other for months before finally meeting in person.

 

[gunhilltrain]

People you know? Or, complete strangers?

Complete strangers. I have some friends on there (like my sister and daughter), but most of them are not every active.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I get that on LinkedIn. I even get it here on Lit. The only reason I don't get it on Facebook is that I don't have an account there.

I guess LinkedIn lets them know some of your history. There don't seem to be a lot of bus drivers on there. One of the competing erotic writing sites emphasizes dating a lot.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Probably lonely-hearts scammers. My partner keeps getting friend requests from doctors, oil-rig engineers and soldiers who decide she's her soulmate, and a few days later suddenly it's "it's my son's birthday and I can't access my money from my oil rig, can you please buy a gift card for him and I'll pay you back?"

Catfishing. It's amazing, but people will send money to others they have never met in person. Sometimes it turns out to be some guy in Nigeria or some such nation. I suspect there are "boiler room " operations where the employees spend all day scamming people on-line.

 

[gunhilltrain]

These are basically all spambots.

It's getting harder and harder to tell the difference, as Lit has found out while trying to stop the AI tide.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I teach a group of approx 20 young people - all but one are 19/20 years old - on a foundation course. Every single one of them has a Facebook account. Not one of them regularly uses it.*

Make of that what you will, but in my experience hardly anybody under the age of 30 (and thus, the prime - of course, not only - group for dating) ever bothers with their FB account. To them, it is an old person's site.

* we have to hammer it into their heads that they need to use their university email, as well, and they have a hard time grasping that Whatsapp isn't an ideal tool for formal communication.

I asked my daughter about Facebook, but she's thirty-three and already has passed out of the "young person" category. Anyway, she said Facebook is going the way of MySpace. She thought that Instagram and TikTok are big now. I assume your students are "Zoomers." It's a rather silly nickname but everybody uses these generation tags.

 

[MrPixel]

I suspect there are "boiler room " operations where the employees spend all day scamming people on-line.

You suspect correctly. There has been national TV news coverage of these boiler rooms scamming lonely hearts for tens of thousands. Once they make a "mark", they are relentless.

I had one in e-mail a couple of months ago supposedly from a local acquaintance. It was a short but well-worded, "Could you possibly do me a small favor?" request from somebody I have a lot of respect for and worked with on a couple of civic projects. So I replied, "Sure, Bev, what's up?" The comeback was a request for money, which I knew was a scam. I called her, and she said that everybody on her contact list got one. Her system had been scraped by a virus, I guess.

Anyway... my long-ago ex is on LinkedIn. (No contact since our split in '82; found 'er in a curiosity search.) I am guessing she has been stalked or harassed by scammers targeting young-appearing women, when she retired her portrait was changed from a barely-professional head shot to a masked-with-big-sunglasses selfie to foil these guys.

 

[XerXesXu]

Anyway... my long-ago ex is on LinkedIn. (No contact since our split in '82; found 'er in a curiosity search.) I am guessing she has been stalked or harassed by scammers targeting young-appearing women, when she retired her portrait was changed from a barely-professional head shot to a masked-with-big-sunglasses selfie to foil these guys.

Snap..ish. My long ago SO, split 82 (after 12 years), contacted me on FB about 2 years ago.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Anyway... my long-ago ex is on LinkedIn. (No contact since our split in '82; found 'er in a curiosity search.) I am guessing she has been stalked or harassed by scammers targeting young-appearing women, when she retired her portrait was changed from a barely-professional head shot to a masked-with-big-sunglasses selfie to foil these guys.

I avoid having photos of myself or my family on-line. The profile pictures show a couple of scenes in my neighborhood. Maybe I shouldn't have used my real name, but that has been a long time now.

 

[MyBareTorso]

Are any of them Nigerian princesses?

 

[lovecraft68]

Facebook? My wife has been hit on through Words with Friends.

Horny men think anything on the net is a hookup site, especially married ones.

The only reason some of these sorry dogs rail against Onlyfans is it costs money.

 

[SimonDoom]

I know somebody who was contacted by a woman he didn't know via Facebook, and they've had a relationship that has lasted well over a decade. So, it happens.

 

[Britva415]

Complete strangers

Probably scammers

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Any social media will be used to pick somebody up. Facebook has had a dating service for a few years now.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Any social media will be used to pick somebody up. Facebook has had a dating service for a few years now.

It's almost amusing because I don't think my age is listed there, nor any photos. About the only thing significant was what college I graduated from. What clued me in was that a woman who probably was thirty-five years younger than I am wanted me to send photographs. I think she got a bit miffed when I turned her down.

By the way, the comments on there are mostly inane or worthless. "Great picture!" (Some 1920s car, perhaps.) If that's all you have to say, just hit the like button.

 

[drobert44]

It's almost amusing because I don't think my age is listed there, nor any photos. About the only thing significant was what college I graduated from. What clued me in was that a woman who probably was thirty-five years younger than I am wanted me to end photographs. I think she got a bit miffed when I turned her down.

By the way, the comments on there are mostly inane or worthless. "Great picture!" (Some 1920s car, perhaps.) If that's all you have to say, just hit the like button.

Met a couple of cuties there; didnt work out.