HOW TO/NOT TO: Ask Someone Out Online

Imagine, if you will, a crowded dance floor: Men and women are talking, laughing awkwardly and trying to gyrate their rhythmically challenged hips to that Phoenix song that goes “do let, do let, blah blah.”

One lone man ceases undulating to put his lips to the ear of the chick he’s grinding up on. “Hey,” he purrs, “Can I get your Twitter handle?”

We’ve reached that point, folks: the zenith of awkwardness whereby the cables of communication are so plentiful that we are wound in a web of our own making.

In a sense, we have returned to the tangled days of Emily Post-esque courting etiquette — circa 1922 — whereby men left women calling cards and letters of introduction, not actually seeing the women themselves upon delivery, unless it was between 4 and 6 o’clock (yes, these were the actual rules).

Though we no longer carry engraved cards (2¾ to 3½ inches wide by 2 to 2¾ inches high), we do tout around the modern equivalent: a slew of digital identities that potential suitors must circumvent to get to the actual you.

While we admit that fixing the above issue wholesale would require a total brain-scrub of the world’s populace, we are prepared to offer a few date-making tips for all you hopeless (emphasis on the hopeless) romantics.

And so begins my Netiquette column — which I write with my Stuff Hipsters Hate co-blogger, Andrea Bartz — this week over at CNN.


Check out the column at CNN.com >>

image courtesy of iStockphoto, dizign54

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  • http://twitter.com/HazzW Harry Ward

    Seriously? You're just promoting your column on a different site. :

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matthew-Blum/1252579948 Matthew Blum

    Hey baby, can i have your number, i lost mine, hahahahhahah

    matt
    http://marketmpb.blogspot.com
    the most interesting blog in the world

  • http://twitter.com/cuomo456 Ellen Phillips

    I knew this had to be that annoying hipster wannabe as soon as I saw her namedropping Phoenix…ugh. Sorry, but these articles are SO bad. Quit giving girls in tech a bad name.

  • bloolabel

    This shouldn't be done period. Do it face to face and maybe you'll get a real kiss instead of a (K).

  • RobHz

    Dating advice from the same girl who recently told us she's an emotional cripple who never left high school?

    Uh…pass.

  • http://www.socialcubix.com/services/facebook-connect Facebook Connect Integration

    LAME! This article shouldn't have even ended up on Mashable in the first place!

  • http://www.DesertMountainHomesOnline.com CarmenBrodeur

    I expect more from mashable. Come on!

  • http://www.facebook.com/jon.bernstein1 Jon Bernstein

    I thought part of “getting social media right” involved actually reading user comments and making changes based on the now readily accessible public feedback. I can't think of a single positive response I've seen to this incredibly annoying series, either here or on CNN. What makes you think people enjoy reading this? As others have said, I'd expect more from Mashable.

  • http://twitter.com/megangarza Megan Garza

    … and giving Gen Y a bad name. Engaging this hipster stereotype and “quirky” manner of writing is fine and all, just please not on Mashable and CNN.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Virgil-Warren/100001477988556 Virgil Warren

    Didn't we see something like this happen in Hot Tub Time Machine? If guys want to get a decent woman they should really put some effort into it. It still strikes me funny when people are sharing emails. 'Sure, you can catch me at thisisafakeemail@youwish.com.' Well, maybe its not so different from getting a fake phone number. Cheers. http://www.nervemetal.com/

  • http://mashable.com/2010/09/15/online-dating-video/ Outsourcing Our Love Lives: How Online Dating Works [VIDEO]

    [...] date?Add your thoughts in the comments section below.More Social Media Resources from Mashable: – HOW TO/NOT TO: Ask Someone Out Online – 7 Days on Craigslist’s Casual Encounters – 5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For the Worse) – 8 [...]

  • http://blog.iuvoonline.com/social-media/outsourcing-our-love-lives-how-online-dating-works-video/ Outsourcing Our Love Lives: How Online Dating Works [VIDEO] | iuvo Shopper & Community Newspaper News

    [...] Social Media Resources from Mashable: – HOW TO/NOT TO: Ask Someone Out Online – 7 Days on Craigslist’s Casual Encounters – 5 Ways Facebook Changed Dating (For the [...]

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