Interpersonal meetups are getting rarer every single day because of COVID-19. People are generally afraid to go out and talk to others face to face, even if they have face masks and face shields because when they go out, the virus might be somewhere unexpected and it might infect them. There goes the social life that most people desire.
But don’t despair! There are modes, especially online and digital alternatives, which enable you to meet and get to know a lot of interesting people online.
INTERPALS
Interpals is a friendly global community in social media with 5 million registered users. It is composed of people interested in foreign culture and languages, and also folks who love to travel. Get to know language partners who will help you get acquainted with their native language. When you are at it, also be helpful with other people who wants to learn your own native language.
Interpals is also basically about making new friends who are overseas and is the Pen Pal (letter writing of the past) tool of the Digital Age.
TINDER OR BADOO
Coronavirus has complicated the dating scene in an atmosphere of less physical meetups and more Zoom and Face Time cyber conversations. Girls who use the dating apps Tinder and Badoo and used to look forward to weekends wherein they can wear their crop tops and go to steamy and sweaty parties are now having second thoughts. They would rather go for that initial deep conversation online, and then eventually ask that sensitive question, “Have you had your COVID results?” It is getting to look like longer courtships are evolving into the New Normal, even before the first touching of skins happen, because of widespread anxiety of virus transmission.
But it is not all that bad because there are lesser accidents on the road and people are just basically safer when flirting in their homes in front of their smartphones.
BUSINESS COMMUNICATION VIA LINKEDIN
Many businesses have realized that it is very effective when starting new business relationships via LinkedIn, the very popular social media player which have cornered the very lucrative niche of building commercial relationships through the Internet. Before the pandemic, the usual route is locating the needed business contacts on LinkedIn. Then email them and doing actual phone calls. When there seemed to be a business transaction lurking in the horizon, there will be an actual physical meeting or conference or luncheon that will happen. This will be interspaced with a business presentation and then the actual signing of the physical documents with representatives of both parties present in flesh and blood.
In the new normal, LinkedIn is still in the picture but succeeding events will all be mostly be done digitally with the final signing agreement done through digital signatures. The actual physical documents will just be mailed back and forth, at a later date. Business consummated with no more physical presence required.
INSTAGRAM AND HASHTAGS
People with similar passions and interests congregate on Instagram. They follow each other and also follow their followers who also have their own followers. It is actually a compliment and good cyber ethics to follow back people who follow you on Instagram. The pandemic has ever further enhanced the usefulness of this Facebook cousin because more people are online for a longer period of time every day than at any point in the young history of the internet. Instagram is getting to be the go-to social media for people pursuing the same interests and hashtags.
ONLINE MARATHONS
Join an online community of people who are passionate about fitness and express this through marathons. But social distancing measures have discouraged this. Yet somehow, creative minds have come up with the idea of staying fit at home by running a 26-mile marathon either through one run or a series of runs through the use of your domestic Steps Trackers, Pedometers, and Treadmills. All done in the safety of your homes.
SPOKEO
We use Google to look upon the Internet about practically everything we wanted to learn about. Now, there’s Spokeo, a search engine that’s custom geared towards discovering by name, phone number search, address or email search the information we need about specific people in a confidential manner.
Extensively speaking, through this app, we do not only learn about our target person’s Contact Information, but also his Personal Details, Location History, Wealth Data, Family and Associates, Criminal Records, and Social Media Accounts. These are all culled from billions of records on the Internet and summarized in easy to read reports by Spokeo.
You can also do a reverse phone lookup using Spokeo. Just encode a phone number together with area code and then important data you need will just appear before your eyes. Additionally, Spokeo is also an email lookup tool if the only information you have on hand is an email address. In this time and age when moving around and commuting are discouraged, Spokeo helps a lot in data gathering and in the early detection of fraud.
Maguire Haigh is a content marketing manager for Spokeo. He is an expert in the business sphere. He prefers writing articles on marketing, social media presence, travel and startup topics. Maguire has great experience in travelling and deep knowledge of 5 foreign languages.