Wednesday, 11 February 2009

  • Craigslist's Missed Connections - Would You Try It?

    Being a media major, I have no choice but to know about what's going on with the internet and how it affects people. Last semester I met with some girls from my anthropology class to discuss our project; and while we went over our project for a while, we moved on to gossiping and talking about boys. Then one girl from my group told me about Missed Connections on Craigslist.

    This is how it works:

    Say I make eye contact with some guy on the subway. It's crowded and somehow I lose him in the mob of people during rush hour (the subway in NYC can be hell). Now I go home and feel as though I may have missed out on an oppurtunity with someone who intrigued me when we locked eyes on the train.

    So, I post an ad, if you will, on Craigslist describing what the guy looks like, where we made eye contact (say the 7th Ave. stop on the E train) and then sit back and hope he knows about Missed Connections and finds my ad so that we can go on a date and see if sparks fly.

    (here's a pie chart of all the possible places that two people could "connect" and not do anything about it)

    How crazy is this? Is the internet allowing us at getting a second chance at possibly finding love? I think so. I think it's cool, but what are the odds that both people who exchanged smiles and glances will both know about this "missed connection" thing? And, I mean, New York is full of missed connections! Is it possible for two people to re-find each other?

    Or does this interfere with fate? What if it's up to fate, not Craigslist, to bring two people back together? It amazes me how people are finding new ways to use the internet when it comes to the interaction between people.

    Maybe for experimental purposes I'll test it out...

    Have you ever put up a post on Missed Connections? Is it useful or creepy?

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