Do you want to find love online? The obvious way to do that is by using an online dating site. However, a not so obvious way of doing it is by using a social networking service, such as MySpace.

What is a social networking site? It’s a site in which you list yourself, including your details, and you list your friends. Some of your friends put profiles of themselves up, and list their friends. A social network of people is thereby built.

Let’s say you have 20 friends that you decide to list. Most of them think it’s a good idea to do the same, and they list about the same number of people. You can view that list of about 400 people that are the friends of your friends, and maybe you’ll find someone that you might be interested in!

As an alternative technique for getting dates, it’s certainly making a difference. On The Paradigm Shift, Markus Frind, owner of plentyoffish.com, writes that the online dating industry is experiencing negative growth (meaning it’s in decline), and that this is all due to the growth of social networking sites.

Social networking sites could well become the online dating sites of the future. Imagine the situation where you see someone you’d like to get to know better, and you both have a mutual friend. You can ask that friend to set you up with them! Chances are they’ll be nearer home than the typical dating agency person, and meetings arranged by a mutual friend tend to be a very successful approach when it comes to dating. Even if you don’t find love, chances are good that you will make new friends, so your time has not been wasted!