Guard Your Privacy
The first thing a potential date might do before going out with you is look you up on a search engine. So any pictures, personal information, and contacts you have may be visible. Until you know someone, you certainly do not want him or her to have access to things like your friend’s names, address, place of work, and photos. Set your privacy settings so that strangers cannot see your information.

Don’t Friend Right Away
When you first meet someone new, you probably want to hang out with them and find out all about them. But I would caution against adding them as a “friend” to your social networking site. What if you break up? Have a fight? Realize you can’t stand the person? He or she is now a “friend” and has seen photos you might have wanted to keep private, thoughts you wrote in a moment of frustration, or even correspondence you might have had with an ex. Sure, you can “unfriend” or block them, but the best way to deal with this is not to friend at all in the beginning.

Be Careful What You Post
You might think the picture of you and your new partner out on the town is the cutest thing ever, but your partner may be annoyed that you posted it. Be cautious before scribbling down details of your dates or giving out information that your new guy or gal wouldn’t appreciate.
It’s a different dating world right now with social networking, so make sure you are safe and smart in how you deal with information. Always protect yourself first. If the new guy or girl in your life is the right one, they’ll understand!

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Social Networking Rules in Dating

Nicole Williams, author of Girl on Top: Your Guide to Turning Dating Rules into Career Success, recently wrote an article about the best way to deal with office romances to avoid getting caught in a sticky situation.  She developed a short list of guidelines that will definitely offer help if you find yourself interested in pursuing someone at work…here are my thoughts on her advice:

Image: Nicole Williams

• Know Your Company’s Policy on Inter-Office Dating – It sounds simple, but I guarantee this is not the first thing on your mind if you want to ask someone out at work.  Check your Employee Handbook and make sure you are starting out on the right foot.

• Don’t Keep it a Secret – No one ever does this, but it’s a good piece of advice.  Secrets always lead to trouble!!

• Be Discreet and Act Professional – The sneaky office hook-up is probably super hot, but it is just putting you and your partner in a situation where both of you could easily lose your jobs.  With the economy as it is, value your job over your desire for PDA or office quickies.

• Be Aware of Sexual Harassment – This is extremely important!  Office have extremely strict policies about sexual harassment and if you are reading the signs wrong from someone, you could end up in a huge heap of trouble.  Especially remember sexual harassment policies when out drinking with co-workers…you definitely don’t want to get accused of inappropriate behavior.

Post from: Blisstree

How to Be Smart About Inter-Office Dating

I’m not sure if you’ve encountered the concept of applying “rules” in your dating life. An example for that would be something I’ve heard (not verifiable, though) done which is that a girl would not accept dates after Wednesday or something like “let’s go out tomorrow night” sort of invite.

Well, in my country, dates are becoming quite common but it’s interspersed with the traditional courtship practices. But for the more liberal, they do go on Westernised dates even with new acquaintances. Some apply certain limitations, either the snag the guy or more importantly to protect themselves from predators.

Personally, during my more active dating life, I applied one important rule regarding personal space, and guard my privacy. Because I don’t always go out with people I *really* know, some are practically strangers sometimes so I make it a point that I do these things. One is to never give out my landline or home phone number. I just give the guy my mobile number. Reason behind this is to protect myself just in case the guy turns out to be a stalker. I can easily change numbers and drop out of his radar.

Another is to never ask him to pick me up or drive me home. I always bring my own car and agree to have the date at a *non-threatening* place like a coffee shop or a nice restaurant in a somewhat popular place (none of those quaint little shop located in god-knows-where type of places). Reason is I can easily ditch the guy just in case he turns out to be finger-sucking loony.

I reckon it’s better to be safe than sorry. Even when I try to be open about dating, I’m still a woman who can be over-powered by a man. Though I’m truly interested in the guy, I still have to be wise about it. Romance can come later on.

What about you guys? What sort of rules do you apply in your dating life? Is personal space and privacy a big thing for you?

Post from: Blisstree

Dating Practice: Privacy and Personal Space Issue