To end this blog series on Catfishing. I thought it would be great to give some tips on how to avoid becoming Catfished. Online dating websites have its advantages-you just have to be safe and smart when using it. Nev, the creator and focus in the documentary Catfish shares tips on how to not become 'Catfished' in an interview with Ryan Seacreast. You can click here to listen and read the full interview.

Here's an excerpt:

Nev Schulman, the man behind the documentary Catfish and the host of MTV’s Catfish: The TV Show, offers his advice on how to avoid getting catfished.
After a caller phoned in to On Air with Ryan Seacrest to reveal that someone is using her identity to engage in a relationship with a guy online, Nev decided to help with the “obviously complicated” situation.

“There are two sides to it,” Nev explains. “Both of them are separate. On your side, Rachel, you need to be aware there are always going to be people until Facebook or some other third party security company figures out how to prevent it that are going to take photos that aren’t theirs and use them. The best thing you can do is make your Facebook private, as private as it can be, so only your friends can see your photos.”
Nev Schulman Reveals ‘the Great Equalizer’ in Avoiding a ‘Catfish’
“And for the guy who thinks he’s talking to you, it’s really his responsibility to confirm beyond any shadow of a doubt to confirm it’s her,” Nev continues. “The responsibility is his to try to video chat with her or somehow get proof it is her before he falls too in love.”
Nev adds for anyone out there who is dating online, it’s crucial to confirm the identity of whoever you’re talking to. “There’s a lot of ways to [confirm your legit] with Instagram video and Vine.”
“Have them start an account and post one little video in six seconds that has them saying, ‘Hey it’s me just wanted to say nice to meet you.’ Or get them on Skype.”
To hear more from Nev, listen to the full interview above!

I mentioned before that there ARE success stories for online relationships. This is most certainly true for teenagers who are constantly on the internet. This couples are being defined on the internet as  'LDR' or Long Distance Relationship. Because of technology, constant communication is possible with distance playing only a small factor. Skype and texting allow for the couple(s) to be in a constant flow of communication, creating the allowance of information to become disclosed.

 I decided to show you my favorite videos of LDR couples who have shared their videos and stories on Youtube.


 

  This picture shows the inaccuracy of online dating in a nutshell. With the advancement of technology everyday, people are finding new ways to deceive others. This morbidly obsess man on the computer is a prime example of deceiving others to believe that he looks like Brad Pit. According to Reuters, Herald News, PC World, Washington Post about online statistics men tend to lie more about Height, Income and age. Women, on the other hand, lie about weight, physical build and age. Obviously, all of these themes are key issues into how relationships are formed and/or broken. The study also found that 49% of people believe that physical characteristics matter. By deceiving others about your true identity leads others to create a fake relationship with this imaginary person instead of the persons true self, behind the keyboard. (http://www.statisticbrain.com/online-dating-statistics/)


But not all relationships go bad on the internet. With 40 million out of 54 million having used or are currently using an online dating site, there have also been a lot of success stories.  Jennifer Viegas  writes in her article "Online Dating: Despite flaws, a fruitful tool" talks about these successes. As mentioned in the title, online dating can be seen as a device to help out people. It is a way for individuals to meet another outside of their normal social circles. Couples are forming from online dating but the success rates are higher in short-term relationships than compared to long-term one's.  Like the other study though, they found that lying did occur on online dating. They compared the dating website profiles of the individuals to that of their drivers license to see what the discrepancies were. "About 52.6 percent of the men in the study lied about their height, as did 39 percent of the women. More women, on the other hand — 64.1 percent — lied about their weight. Age in profiles is also suspect, since 24.3 percent of the men and 13.1 percent of women were untruthful about their age. Despite such fibbing, the researchers were surprised that it wasn’t more rampant." (http://www.nbcnews.com/id/35304072/)


Many online dating sites though are advertising their success stories on our TV screens now. Couples are coming out and declaring their love for another and sharing their first dates with the world. Here are a few clips of the advertisements for the dating websites. You can judge for yourself if these couples are just giddy to be in the 'honeymoon' phase or are actually a long term couple.  Notice too that these women are talking without a significant other by their side and that they are all the same demographically- 30 year old white women? You can obviously see who they are trying to target here.

So why is Catfishing such a big deal?
     Online dating is one of the largest industries of today. With 1 out of 5 couples meeting online today, the online dating industry has more than boomed and is with 2.1 billion dollars in the US alone.
     Catfishing is a moral and ethical issue.  Leading another (or multiple people for that matter) with this false persona is a dilemma. Private information is being disclosed back and forth to both parties with honesty being put off to the side. This lack of honesty allows for information to be shared unwillingly with other people the other party didn't intend to share. Catfishing has lead to broken hearts and even suicide. In addition, Catfishing can be considered as stealing. By using other people's pictures and artwork and posing as someone else, you are stealing intellectual property from others. This is in fact illegal.

   The internet is an alluring place where you can find whatever you want in a click of a mouse. People can become a different persona in a heartbeat. Like Amy, the mom in the documentary Catfish, people use the internet as a form to escape the real world. It is this intertwinement of the real world/virtual world that becomes dangerous.

Here are a few video clips that show the dangers of Catfishing

























Sources:
http://kennethauthor.com/2012/03/06/online-dating-is-booming-in-our-changing-society-but-does-it-work-i-have-my-doubts/)

   Hi everyone!
    For theis blog series I decide to look into a new phenomenon called 'catfishing'. I really don't know that much about the phenomenon. Yes, I've watched the MTV show before but I never really quite understood WHY it was so popular. Knowledge is power after all right?!?

Here's a definition of what catfishing is via the lovely urbandictonairy.com
 "A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.