4 in 10 Millennials Search Their Dates On Facebook

When it comes to dating, more and more Americans are turning into a detective, researching the backgrounds of their prospective partners through social media.

This is especially true of millennials and Gen Z.

According to new polling data from the Pew Research Center, 40% of Internet users aged 18 to 29 use online services to gather information about a potential date.

More than half admitted to using the Internet to check up on former partners as well.

The data also revealed more people are now using these social media or networking sites to ask out potential dates.

“Forty percent of Internet users use online

services to gather information about a date.”

Among the men in the polling group, 19% said they had asked someone out using a networking site. It was 11% among the women.

In looking specifically at those who had been been single or looking for a partner at some point in the past decade, 30% used the Internet to dig into the background of someone they were interested in.

In the same group, one in five had blocked an ex, while almost as many had untagged themselves from pictures shared with an ex.

Twenty-seven percent admitted to blocking at least one person who made them feel uncomfortable through online contact. Men were found a third less likely to have done so compared to women.

On the more positive side, 12% said they had specifically linked up with a person online after a friend recommended them as a potential date.

The research was conducted between April and May of 2013 as part of the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project.

From: policymic.com.