In the networked world we can connect with anyone who's online and wants to be connected to. And people can link up with us if we want. Providing, of course, we can find each other. So how do you go about finding the person that's right for you? There are many ways.

One thing you can do is put up a profile on a social networking site such as MySpace, Friendster or Facebook. These sites have special interest groups on various topics which allow you to interact with people with common interests. You can post a profile and proffer yourself as a 'friend' to others whose profiles or posts you find interesting. However, this method is rather passive and can be a hit and miss affair. Everything depends on finding people who fit your ideal, and the right people coming across your profile.

A more hands-on method is to use an instant messaging program such as Yahoo Messenger or IRC. These essentially offer you a chat room experience and allow you to enter join conversations on various topics and interests and have private chats with people you find interesting. The chat room environment is a rather unregulated one and unless you know what you're doing, you could run into problems. Plus, you do need a measure of technical expertise to handle IRC.

Another long-established instant messaging system is ICQ which comes both in the form of a downloadable program and a web-based system. ICQ allows you to search for uses online with the criteria you're looking for. You can choose by gender, location, interests and other factors and IRC will return a list of matching users and tell you whether they're currently online or not. If they are you can try connecting to them for a chat. It's up to their preferences whether they accept your offer or not and they can ban you if they don't want to chat with you. Again, it’s unregulated and can be overwhelming for online senior dating.

Another thing to do is to join a forum or message board related to your hobby or work. Just search on google and you'll come up with hundreds or even thousands. After signing up you'll be able to start new topics and add comments to existing ones. If you want to get to know someone better, you can contact them by private messaging. You should also post a profile giving information about yourself in the public area of the forum. Interacting on forums is a great way to communicate others in your field or area of interest and learn new things but not so effective for finding that one special person.

The last and best option for making friends online we'll look at is the dating site. This is a website you sign up with and post your profile describing yourself and you’re the kind of person you’re looking for. You can then browse the profiles of others that fit your criteria and contact them. Meanwhile other members will come across your profile and get in touch with you if they feel you're their type.

These types of service are the best for senior singles to make friends online because they have a large number of members. This method of online senior dating makes the chance of finding the right person much higher than with the other methods. Also as members need to register and pay a fee, these sites are safer than the more freewheeling chat rooms where anyone can log on. Another advantage is that you can narrow your search down to your part of the country. It would be a shame to meet your dream partner on IRC only to find she lives 250 miles away (or worse, in Australia). Still, if you're serious about finding love, that shouldn't be an obstacle.

You can now find dating sites focussing on the over 50s age group. So as a senior dater, this means you have a very good chance of meeting a person who is likely to be compatible with you. Online senior dating has never been simpler or more effective even if you've been out of the game for years or even decades.

Kathryn Dawson writes for a portal for over 50s dating in the UK. The company provides a database of senior dating members for those looking for a discreet way to find older dating singles online.

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