Q on commonly understood semantics of Facebook profile "Interested In"/"Looking For" profile section

[Mops]

I just looked at a friend's Facebook profile page and saw he had checked


Interested In:
[X] Women
[X] Men

Looking For:
[ ] Friendship
[ ] Dating
[ ] A Relationship
[X] Networking


I suppose what he meant was 'I want to network with people regardless of gender', but isn't the first question commonly understood to be about sexual orientation? In that case people would read it as 'I am bisexual and unrelated to that I want to network', which probably would be news to his wife of thirty years.

So, what are the semantics people are going to assume for such a Facebook page?

[Tess Trueheart]

I think the way you're reading that is correct. Most of the people I know who are soon-to-be grads or recent grads don't even put anything for 'interested in' and just say friendship, networking or both, thinking that the first category means romantic interest.

[Misnomer]

I, too, have always thought that "interested in" = sexual orientation. But I know a few people who seem to think like your friend, so who's to say who's right. It's not an issue on my own profile, though, because I would never use Facebook for dating; therefore, who I'm "interested in" is irrelevant (and not listed).

[Shot From Guns]

Yes, I agree. "Interested In" = sexual orientation; "Looking For" = what kind of connections you're looking to make, which may or not be influenced by who you're Interested In. I mean, seriously, does your friend think that if he checks "Women" and then "Networking" that guys who want to network are going to say "Oh, nevermind"?

[Zsofia]

I don't have an answer for you, but my mother just got on Facebook and she pulled me aside one evening recently and said, "You know I like Mr. Z, but I think you should know that your Facebook page says you're in a committed relationship and HIS page says he's seeking women!" I howled with laughter and told her that people like us don't even usually remember what that part of our profile says, because we're not college students.