Indians are embracing social media at a very high rate. This is especially true for
young, middle to higher income earners in the society. The number of Indians signing
up to social websites like facebook and twitter is growing at an astronomical rate. The
question is whether this is now influencing how Indians meet and find their life
partners.
The traditional Indian way of finding a partner has been either through acquaintances
usually “arranged” by a family member (parents, brother, sister, uncles, etc.) or through
placing matrimonial advertisements in newspapers. Even the advertisements are
usually not placed by the boy or girl themselves but by a close family member, most
likely a parent. With the advent of Internet, a plethora of matching making or matrimony
websites came online providing the same services that print newspapers provided.
These websites have been highly successful with some boasting millions of profiles
and success stories.
The onset of social media has now thrown open a number of ways for people to
communicate and meet. You can now become an online friend of someone on
Facebook and learn more about them even without meeting them in person first. Or you
could be a follower of someone’s tweets and know what’s going on in their minds and
lives.
The main difference between traditional matrimonial profiles and social media is that
while matrimony profiles are static, social media keeps your personality alive online
and over a period of time reveals a lot more about you and your lifestyle. Your own
online pages and tweets are usually a closer reflection of who you are than what you
could possibly ever write in a few words in a “formal” matrimonial advertisement.
Because of the growing popularity of social media, many websites are now integrating
matrimonial advertisement concept with social profiles and tweets. One such website
is http://www.matritweets.com, which provides ability to tweet in addition to submitting a
matrimonial profile. What you tweet is who you are.
While there is no evidence of matrimonial websites losing their attraction among
Indians to find a life partner, there is certainly an evidence of integration of such
websites with social media features and sites like Facebook and twitter. Social media
is playing a complimentary role in helping people find a life partner alongside a formal
introduction through a matrimonial website like matritweets.com.