We have all read the marketing hype about how broadband such as ADSL, 3G and HSDPA and web2.0 applications can make people more productive at work. It is often used to sell businesses expensive "solutions" with the promise that the productivity increase will pay for the "investment" in the long run. This argument is hardly ever advanced with respect to helping the individual save time and money. What with the world economic crisis and global warming it is imperative that we all find ways of doing thing more efficiently!

How the Internet can save you time and money in the dating game!

This is were, in my experience, all these new social networking tools can really helps us single guys. In the past when a new prospect pitched up on the radar screen, either at the office or through your social network you would have to spend a considerable amount of time and money getting close enough to your target to properly assess the situation. Sure you could ask your friends for inside info but they will never tell you shes a psycho, afterall she's their friend. At the office of course no-one has a past on their first day so its much harder to gather intel.

The traditional process of gaining this vital information, as we know, is quiet problematic because you have to carefully craft your approach strategy and with no background info this can be difficult. By the time you have the data you need it may be too late to change track from "metro-sexual" to "mountain-man" or you may already have admitted to not liking cats only to find out she has three of them.

Prehaps the biggest problem with the traditional approach is that by the time you start to talk to the woman you are already on your fourth beer and woman always act reasonable in public, when you don't know them that well. (In America I belive this is illegal and called entrapment or false advertising). By the time you worked out that the woman is a psycho who bans the use of computers after 8:00pm forcing you to watch boring episodes of Grey's Anatomy as quality time you had already invested quiet a lot of time and money and in some cases have difficulty implementing an exit strategy.

How Facebook can save you time, money and help get the girl.

Now with the Internet and social networking site like Facebook you can cut down all this wasted time and resouces. You can decided on your approach and exit strategy upfront. The only thing you have to do is get added as a friend on their social networking site of choice. Thankfully most people are glad to do this because they are niave. In addition most people don't bother to manage their public profiles on the social networks instead they put their whole life story there for all to see.

Now you can find out that she likes water-sking and thinks Liberachi was the best musician ever. You can also see how many boyfriends she has. The number of male "friends" she has and the general kind of flirting that goes on on peoples walls. Armed with this information you can make an informed decision. It all depends on what you want. A long-term relationship or just some fun? All this is in the profile. It just needs to beanalyzed and acted on! Of course you need to manage your own public profile. A Zen approach is the best here, less is more. Create a blank tablet and let them paint the picture they want to see on it. Don't have a long list of women who are your friends - this is bound to be a problem sooner or later in any relationship!

Broadband getting cheaper!

And to think that you are saving the world economy and fighting global warming at the same time! Whats even better is that all this talk of Neotels undersea cable and more 3g and ADSL bandwidth coming on line holds the promise of future price reductions making it even cheaper than before. Although I must admit I think that unfortuneatly the price reductions will take longer to come than most people expect.