Love.com

A few years ago, to meet someone at a bookstore, restaurant, in the mall even at a party or club was the conventional way of courtship. Now it's as easy as typing in a hyperlink. But still, is this new style of dating as acceptable?

When AOL first made it's debut to the world of technology in the mid 1990s, it brought us the beautiful access of information over the web. People first used the internet to look up information, send and receive emails, chatting, and instant messaging. Along the way came more capabilities came such as online dating.

At first most folks were skeptical of meeting someone they had never met, offline. It seemed dangerous especially for children between the ages 12 to 17 years old.

I'm sure everyone has caught an episode of “To Catch A Predator” when Chris Hanson spotlights a perverted adult scouting teens online in order to perform sexual acts.

The good news about technology is people have access to background checks. Sex offenders can be found on sexoffender.ncdoj.gov/ the NC Sex Offender Registry site. IP addresses can also be located if needed.

Some people may find online dating easier than actually approaching a person standing in the line at McDonald's.

Creating a profile displaying your interests, activities, and what you are looking for can help narrow down what kind of common qualities you may have with a person.

Sending an email introducing yourself eases the feeling of rejection; no response is better than walking up to a girl and asking for her number and she says “No”.

Think about that cute guy who may be in your Biology class. You can look him up, add him as a friend, and start a conversation with a person you may have been reluctant to approach at first.

Online dating allows people to be upfront with what they want, whether it's “dating but nothing serious” or a “committed relationship”.

Zoosk is easy to sign up for and gives you access to other singles through social websites you may already use such as Facebook. According to Top10BestDatingSites.com it was chosen as the number one online dating site of 2012.

Match.com, eHarmony, Plentyoffish.com, and Singlechristians.com are some of the sites where you can also try online dating.

A lot of social sites are free to use but some may require a fee. Some have 30 day trials for free to give users a chance to feel them out.

As college students on a budget most students would probably want to stick with the free subscription.

Dating is a natural part of life; everyone aspires to find that special someone they are destined to be with. How you choose to date is your personal business, so to think of online dating as weird in 2012 is obsolete.

If you choose to date online always be careful, just as if you were meeting a stranger by chance in a public or common settings. Keep in mind; it's great to be a risk taker but be smart about what you do and how you do it.