Twitter incorporated on new dating website

Internet dating is nothing new, with hundreds of sites out there willing to take your money and find you a match. A recent launch of a dating site using Twitter just made finding a date a little cheaper and is just a tweet away.

In the age of online dating, websites such as EHarmony, Lavalife and Match.com are amongst the top contenders for helping one find a potential mate. With claims of match compatibility and thousands of success stories, sites offer easy registration, free matching and some even offer a flirting tool gratis. Now, a new dating site is using a Twitter API , but with fewer external controls and without the fees. Flirt140 was recently launched for Twitter users and is 100 per cent tweetable. You simply create a basic profile and search out potential matches by entering keywords. Just like other sites, you are able to "wink" at potential "cutie" as well as send and view private emails. In reality, it has many of the features available on other Internet dating sites. According to the sites home page, you can "Search by gender, location and keyword to look for cuties near you. Tag yourself and others with descriptive keywords that help describe them. Send a private message to anyone. And it's totally free." In a recent piece written about the site's service, Flirt140 is described as:

a website and service that utilize Twitter profiles and tags in order to help you to find your ideal tweeting match. It pulls your bio, profile picture, and recent tweets to build quick profiles for any user on Twitter. It’s only once you’re logged into Flirt140 via Twitter Oauth, though, that the functionality and potential magic are apparent.

Unfortunately, there are a few kinks that have yet to be worked out that could make individuals a tad uncomfortable. If you are searching on the site, there are currently no ways to maintain anonymity, meaning those with whom the flirting transpires are connected on every facet of Twitter. Other sites allow for some sense of anonymity in that only a user name and limited info are available to others. Also, searches are limited to gender and region only, meaning that if you are looking for a certain age group, it isn't yet there. You also get a search return of all Twitter users and not just those who are single or even human. For example, I entered the search criteria that "I am a: Girl. Checking out: Guys." in the "United States" within 50 miles of my city and state. What came back to me was a weight loss coach, a Buddhist and a handful of strange people. Of course, expanding my search opened up new possibilities, including a picture of a dad and his infant boasting of a better web experience on your computer. There were some potential matches that were real humans but whether or not they were attached, that is a different story. One match was a prolific "f bomb" dropper and even used words like prick, cu*t, and flying fu*k". Another, a man who was an expert on handguns and liquor, and still another, a young girl. Nothing in life comes free! Needless to say, it needs some "tweetking." Still, its an innovative way to take dating to the here and now via the site, searching out potential matches on Twitter. It allows a user to ferret through those who have viewed your profile and maybe a flirt back. So if you are looking for a cost effective and very public way to tweet yourself into a potential dating relationship, Flirt140 might be for you. Twitter is more than a social networking site. For more information on what it's all about, you can read here at Wikipedia or an interview on The Times Online with the Twitter founders.