How to Find Love on Facebook
Feb. 12, 2010 — -- When Jenece Whitted hit "send" on a friend request to a grade school playmate, she doubted he'd even remember her name.
Whitted, a 31-year-old mother of two (and stepmother of two more) from Maricopa, Ariz., was just recovering from an unexpected divorce and thought she'd see if Facebook could help her find old friends and classmates.
So one evening in February 2009, she sent a message to Adam Klawitter, an elementary school classmate she met in first grade, but hadn't seen or heard from in years.
To her surprise, he replied. A week later, Whitted said "he made his move."
When she updated her status with a comment about dating and the games people play, Klawitter left a comment.
That single line led to a Facebook chat, which led to a telephone call, which ultimately led him to buy a plane ticket from their hometown of Fresno, Calif., to visit her not even two weeks later.
When the two saw each other, "It was like no time had passed," Whitted said.
In May, Klawitter moved to Arizona, and in September the comic book enthusiast proposed by posting an original comic strip on Whitted's Facebook page. This June, the couple will be married in the town where they met decades ago.
Whitted said that when her first marriage ended, she never thought she'd take another walk down the aisle, but she credits Facebook, in part, for enabling this new chapter of her life.
"It it wasn't for Facebook, we would never have crossed paths again," she said.
Facebook plans to celebrate the site's love matches with its own blog post on the topic today. The networking site reached out to media in advance of Valentine's Day to highlight some of the many love connections, saying, "Every day can be Valentine's Day on Facebook."
"Facebook is a great way to reconnect with someone from your past or strengthen a connection with someone you met casually, because Facebook reflects your real world relationships and provides an authentic and trusted environment," a Facebook spokesman told ABCNews.com.
Across Facebook and other social networking sites, people aren't just finding friendship, but romance, with old friends, former flames and even new acquaintances.
"Facebook provides a friendly place for people to engage in conversation, reflect on their past memories and reunite with people they may [have] lost touch with," said Julie Spira, cyber-dating expert and author of "The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online." "People feel more comfortable in reaching out on Facebook because they don't run the risk of rejection that they might get on a phone call."
