Date Added: June 17, 2011 08:24:30 PM

Indians are embracing social media at a very high rate. This is especially true for young, middle to higher income earners in the society. The number of Indians signing up to social websites like facebook and twitter is growing at an astronomical rate. The question is whether this is now influencing how Indians meet and find their life partners.

The traditional Indian way of finding a partner has been either through acquaintances usually “arranged” by a family member (parents, brother, sister, uncles, etc.) or through placing matrimonial advertisements in newspapers. Even the advertisements are usually not placed by the boy or girl themselves but by a close family member, most likely a parent. With the advent of Internet, a plethora of matching making or matrimony websites came online providing the same services that print newspapers provided. These websites have been highly successful with some boasting millions of profiles and success stories.

The onset of social media has now thrown open a number of ways for people to communicate and meet. You can now become an online friend of someone on Facebook and learn more about them even without meeting them in person first. Or you could be a follower of someone’s tweets and know what’s going on in their minds and lives.

The main difference between traditional matrimonial profiles and social media is that while matrimony profiles are static, social media keeps your personality alive online and over a period of time reveals a lot more about you and your lifestyle. Your own online pages and tweets are usually a closer reflection of who you are than what you could possibly ever write in a few words in a “formal” matrimonial advertisement.

Because of the growing popularity of social media, many websites are now integrating matrimonial advertisement concept with social profiles and tweets. One such website is http://www.matritweets.com, which provides ability to tweet in addition to submitting a matrimonial profile. What you tweet is who you are.

While there is no evidence of matrimonial websites losing their attraction among Indians to find a life partner, there is certainly an evidence of integration of such websites with social media features and sites like Facebook and twitter. Social media is playing a complimentary role in helping people find a life partner alongside a formal introduction through a matrimonial website like matritweets.com.