Renad Ghanem Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – Facebook, the world's popular social networking website, is known for connecting and reuniting families, siblings and friends. It has now also become a platform for finding soul mates. Prospective bride or groom seekers randomly add the person in whom they are interested by looking at their profile picture and the little information they can find in the information bar. According to some active Facebook users, it is easier to start a relationship on the popular social website. Many men and women, who have a hard time finding partners in real life, believe that they might be able to find their true companion online. However, all that starts well doesn't always end well on Facebook. Many people just add the person from the opposite gender for the sake of fun. They talk sweet, make false promises and then abandon them after they get bored or tired with the same person. A Saudi man, on condition of anonymity, said that he randomly sends friend requests to girls. When they accept his friendship, he chats with them and then talks to them over the phone. He pretends to love them and offers marriage, but when he gets bored he lets them go. “In our close-knit society we usually search for a way to know the opposite sex, and Facebook has been the perfect way for me.” The man further said that he is on Facebook just to have fun. “I tell the girls fake things about myself, such as my job, and my personality. I sometimes even use my friends' pictures and claim it's mine.” The Saudi man also said that he will never marry a girl through Facebook. “If the only way to get these girls' trust is to promise marriage, then I do promise them, and it's easy to find any excuse to leave them. “I first ask the girl about her dream man and then pretend to be the so-called man of her dreams.” He revealed that he has two cellphones, one of which is only reserved for ‘girls on Facebook.' Saudi national Fayrouz Ahmed, 23, met a man on Facebook who told her he was single even though he was married. Ahmed said that initially she believed him but later found out that he had three children too. “He lied to me about everything: job, age, status,” said Fayrouz, adding that when she confronted him he denied being married. Later the man asked Fayrouz to give her another chance. “He asked me for another chance as he was not happy with his wife.” Nisreen Abdullah, 21, said that she was in a relationship with a man she knew through Facebook for two years; he told her that he's single while he was engaged to his cousin. “He came to my home and met my father, and told him that he wanted to marry me,” said Nisreen. Nisreen also said that she was shocked when she discovered he was engaged during the period he was in relationship with her. She warned that Facebook is not the right platform to seek a man for life. Nisreen said she felt cheated and regretted falling in the man's malicious trap. Suffering the same fate is 20-year-old Saudi national Soha Ali, who accepted a friend request from a stranger for the first time in her life; he told her he was in love and wanted to marry her just after a week from accepting his request. “I didn't suspect that he was lying. We met a few times, and when I asked him about marriage he promised, but said that his parents refused. I believed him and supported him a lot,” said Soha. One of Soha's friend also went through the same ordeal. However, there are some blessed souls who are lucky enough to find a companion for life on Facebook. Safaa Muhammed, 25, years, from Morocco met her husband on Facebook three years ago. “He added me, and we started talking to each other. We fell in love and decided to meet in real life,” Safaa said. Safaa said that he traveled to Morocco to see her. “He was honest, and here we are –– married and happy,” she said.
