Online dating and name Googling

The age-old epithet that the perfect man is 'tall, dark and mysterious' may no longer apply to those using an online dating service.

But this lack of elusiveness online is not necessarily such a bad thing, dating service experts have claimed.

Few would deny that the internet has changed the way people go about their everyday lives, whether professionally or socially.

Social networking has become one of the most prolific and popular online phenomenon in terms of maintaining friendships, while the powers of broadband and mobile internet have made it possible for people to work from pretty much wherever they are in the world.

In dating terms, however, the information available over the internet - and more specifically Google - has changed the rules of the game.

Zara Percy, director of dating service The County Register, notes that few people can resist the urge of Googling their new date on the internet.

She told the Guardian: "I think the majority of people will do it if they know the person's surname.

"It's hard to resist, and it doesn't make you a bunny boiler."

But online dating can undoubtedly be intrusive enough, with users often claiming to agonise over the smallest details on their much-scrutinised profiles to ensure they are doing themselves justice.

Surely the additional worry about details about your person, mistaken or otherwise, that could emerge through a Google name search, will be too much to bear for some.

However, this could be one of the few ways for people to ensure that their online dating partner is being entirely honest - especially given the ambiguity of profiles.

"Singles are tired of the misrepresentation that takes place on free sites," remarked Jacob Solotaroff, general manager of free online dating service DownToEarth.com.

He added that his new website "encourages honest and respectful interactions," which he hopes will "create a trustworthy community" for daters to interact in.

However, in the absence of a "trustworthy community", dating Googlers still need to accept the potential consequences of their actions.

Ms Percy warns that, even if it does yield any results at all, these could lead to uncomfortable moments further down the line.

"It may put you in a difficult situation where you know something you shouldn't and then have to feign ignorance when it is mentioned," she said.

One of the biggest difficulties, of course, is that there are likely to be a great many number of people on the internet sharing the same name.

As Danny Sullivan, the editor of SearchEngineWatch.com, commented to CNN way back in 2003: "If you think of the needle in the haystack analogy, that haystack has gotten a lot larger."