As I walk into my office to begin my shift, I hear one of my colleagues excitedly say, "Well, he 'liked' my status update!" This was in answer to when our fellow colleague asked her whether a guy had called her back since their date three days ago.

He hadn't.

But this morning, he had hit "like" on her status update and this meant all was well, apparently.

As a woman who started dating back when people still used ICQ, I did not think that this was a good sign. If anything, I felt her date liked her a little bit, but not enough to actually contact her directly. His liking of her status seemed like a lazy way of reminding her of his existence and that he was vaguely interested. If he should decide to actually see her again, she would not be able to say that he hadn't kept in touch.

To avoid an angry or hysterical co-worker, I did not make my opinions known but I did (silently) ask the following question: Is this what its come to?

Image source: helpguide.org

How to date online effectively

Online dating has become a social norm with the rise of so many different websites to choose from. From eHarmony, which employs matching tactics based on interests to Tindr which is solely based on first impressions, chances are, you know at least a few people who have tried them and have perhaps met girlfriends or boyfriends this way. A decade ago, there was a sort of stigma related to meeting a potential romantic interest off the internet. This has changed dramatically with the rise of social networking and smartphones. The following guidelines might seem general but they are in fact important in order to happily explore the arena of online dating.