Charlie Wong
04-04-2005, 08:38 PM
Fast flirting
By Sue Ostler
March 19, 2005
Icon
Photo: Kate Oliver
<http://www.smh.com.au/news/Icon/Fast-flirting/2005/03/17/1110913718477.html>
Forget cyber love, mobile-phone dating is fast, furious and immediate
- perfect for young people who are surrounded by disposable items.
Don't fancy the dude or dudette in question? Simply delete and dial
on.
"Finding your perfect match has never been so easy," declares the
press release introducing a brand spanking new service which came
about when a couple of clever bods from Australia's largest online
dating service, RSVP, and Hutchison Telecom's 3G mobile service, the 3
network, got together to announce the launch of RSVP on 3.
"It is an inevitable evolution to the online dating phenomenon and
will be quickly adopted by daters who want access to instant loving
any time," says RSVP's marketing manager, Melanie Bowman.
It's all part of the frantically paced modernisation of dating. It's
quick, easy and at your fingertips. Singles cruise their dial pads to
unearth prospects' profiles with options to view photos and videos,
search sexy profiles and send and receive "kisses" and flirty chats.
You can get it when you're walking your dog, drinking at your local,
slumped over the desk at work, in the bath or going for a run - you
can get it anywhere.
So what about, erm, chemistry? Or pheromones? Or that funny flutter
you get when you meet someone who floats your boat and pushes all your
buttons?
What is left of the mystery and art of romance if we are so
accessible, so very easy to contact and, if desired, to make a move
on? Are we further demystifying the ages-old art of face-to-face
flirting, the meaning of communication? One 3 network customer,
26-year-old Millie, who works "crazy hours" in hospitality, thinks
not.
"It's kinda fun. Lots of people in the hospitality industry don't have
access to a PC and they work long, irregular hours. We don't get to
meet many new people," Millie says.
It can also make you feel a little more flirtatious, and like any
blind date, "you just go for it", Millie says. She thinks the new
service provides enough information to make a decision about whether
to take things further.
And it feels a little more secure and more accessible than online
dating. "It opens up that face-to-face contact and gets you out of
that awkward position of being on a date with someone you don't feel
comfortable with.
"It's also quite a confidence booster and it's fun getting the
attention. It can make communication move a lot faster as your phone's
right with you. It's a way of meeting them without having to go
through the actual meeting."
Sure, but what happens after you've exchanged a bit of flirty chat and
shared a few "kisses" - who initiates the actual "mobile date" and
does it cost anything?
Either party can initiate the date and, yes, it does cost: it's $39.95
for five "stamps" (that breaks down to $7.99 for each date - the
equivalent of a vodka and tonic in a swanky bar).
Will Millie initiate a date? "Yes," she smiles. "I've had a couple of
kisses and I'm thinking about it." Does it feel strange paying for the
first date? "No," she says, "but then I'm not a traditionalist."
Kerri, a 32-year-old editor, couldn't think of anything worse. "There
are plenty of people who really enjoy the many and varied features of
mobile phones, but speaking as a Luddite who almost didn't go on a
phone plan because I had to get a phone with more than the most basic
operations, it's not for me ... in the same way as WAP, polyphonic
ringtones and downloading movie clips aren't for me," she says.
"The kind of person who'd get into mobile dating wouldn't be my type,
if only because he'd find me depressingly old-fashioned."
It's really a matter of personal choice. And whether we want our
personal mobiles to transform into frenzied love machines. Allowing
the possibility of a random romance to infiltrate our lives 24/7
without warning may be wildly exciting for some but intrusive for
others.
"Email dating is one thing, at least things happen at a manageable
pace," Kerri says.
"Imagine if you were sitting at your desk at work and you started
getting bombarded with text messages from someone you didn't even
know. I bet that in a few years' time, mobile dating will not only be
commonplace, but will have made massive advances ... for now, I'll
stick to making my advances over the internet, or even at the pub."
But you can't stop progress, especially when it comes to one of the
most commercial markets in the world. After all, research shows that
looking for love in cyberspace is one of the most successful ways to
find a partner, so this seems the next logical step. And hey, why not?
If you can manage mobile dating without looking like you're doing a
bad Rove interview - go for it.
Sue Ostler runs monthly workshops entitled Flirt with Flair.
By Sue Ostler
March 19, 2005
Icon
Photo: Kate Oliver
<http://www.smh.com.au/news/Icon/Fast-flirting/2005/03/17/1110913718477.html>
Forget cyber love, mobile-phone dating is fast, furious and immediate
- perfect for young people who are surrounded by disposable items.
Don't fancy the dude or dudette in question? Simply delete and dial
on.
"Finding your perfect match has never been so easy," declares the
press release introducing a brand spanking new service which came
about when a couple of clever bods from Australia's largest online
dating service, RSVP, and Hutchison Telecom's 3G mobile service, the 3
network, got together to announce the launch of RSVP on 3.
"It is an inevitable evolution to the online dating phenomenon and
will be quickly adopted by daters who want access to instant loving
any time," says RSVP's marketing manager, Melanie Bowman.
It's all part of the frantically paced modernisation of dating. It's
quick, easy and at your fingertips. Singles cruise their dial pads to
unearth prospects' profiles with options to view photos and videos,
search sexy profiles and send and receive "kisses" and flirty chats.
You can get it when you're walking your dog, drinking at your local,
slumped over the desk at work, in the bath or going for a run - you
can get it anywhere.
So what about, erm, chemistry? Or pheromones? Or that funny flutter
you get when you meet someone who floats your boat and pushes all your
buttons?
What is left of the mystery and art of romance if we are so
accessible, so very easy to contact and, if desired, to make a move
on? Are we further demystifying the ages-old art of face-to-face
flirting, the meaning of communication? One 3 network customer,
26-year-old Millie, who works "crazy hours" in hospitality, thinks
not.
"It's kinda fun. Lots of people in the hospitality industry don't have
access to a PC and they work long, irregular hours. We don't get to
meet many new people," Millie says.
It can also make you feel a little more flirtatious, and like any
blind date, "you just go for it", Millie says. She thinks the new
service provides enough information to make a decision about whether
to take things further.
And it feels a little more secure and more accessible than online
dating. "It opens up that face-to-face contact and gets you out of
that awkward position of being on a date with someone you don't feel
comfortable with.
"It's also quite a confidence booster and it's fun getting the
attention. It can make communication move a lot faster as your phone's
right with you. It's a way of meeting them without having to go
through the actual meeting."
Sure, but what happens after you've exchanged a bit of flirty chat and
shared a few "kisses" - who initiates the actual "mobile date" and
does it cost anything?
Either party can initiate the date and, yes, it does cost: it's $39.95
for five "stamps" (that breaks down to $7.99 for each date - the
equivalent of a vodka and tonic in a swanky bar).
Will Millie initiate a date? "Yes," she smiles. "I've had a couple of
kisses and I'm thinking about it." Does it feel strange paying for the
first date? "No," she says, "but then I'm not a traditionalist."
Kerri, a 32-year-old editor, couldn't think of anything worse. "There
are plenty of people who really enjoy the many and varied features of
mobile phones, but speaking as a Luddite who almost didn't go on a
phone plan because I had to get a phone with more than the most basic
operations, it's not for me ... in the same way as WAP, polyphonic
ringtones and downloading movie clips aren't for me," she says.
"The kind of person who'd get into mobile dating wouldn't be my type,
if only because he'd find me depressingly old-fashioned."
It's really a matter of personal choice. And whether we want our
personal mobiles to transform into frenzied love machines. Allowing
the possibility of a random romance to infiltrate our lives 24/7
without warning may be wildly exciting for some but intrusive for
others.
"Email dating is one thing, at least things happen at a manageable
pace," Kerri says.
"Imagine if you were sitting at your desk at work and you started
getting bombarded with text messages from someone you didn't even
know. I bet that in a few years' time, mobile dating will not only be
commonplace, but will have made massive advances ... for now, I'll
stick to making my advances over the internet, or even at the pub."
But you can't stop progress, especially when it comes to one of the
most commercial markets in the world. After all, research shows that
looking for love in cyberspace is one of the most successful ways to
find a partner, so this seems the next logical step. And hey, why not?
If you can manage mobile dating without looking like you're doing a
bad Rove interview - go for it.
Sue Ostler runs monthly workshops entitled Flirt with Flair.