For singles Facebook can be incredibly useful. You see having a public profile means anyone can see what you’re up to, all day, every day, especially if you’re a prolific Facebooker. The definitive source of all romantic fodder, the 2008 Harlequin Romance Report, discovered that 53% of men and 54% of women have researched a potential date or significant other through websites like Google, Facebook or Myspace.

You can’t blame them. After all social networking websites like Facebook gives you access to viewing a total stranger’s friends, their employer and what they got up to on their summer holidays. The Harlequin survey also found that 42% of men and 39% of women had created an online profile in the hope of finding love. Furthermore roughly one-third of men and women had been in a relationship that began online.

Whether this is hard evidence or not, Facebook is becoming the ultimate hook up. Most dating sites only offer you a glimpse of what a person projects themselves to be like. And unlike the ever-popular dating website RSVP where you have to pay just to get in contact someone, you can message someone for free on Facebook.

A friend of mine confesses to trawling Facebook for potential boyfriends. She even admits to tailoring her searches based on a particular occupation or interest and then sending feisty messages to whoever crops up. Her hit rate? She had three dates with three separate guys in one week.

This begs the question - does poking a random on Facebook equate to a generic pick up line in a pub? Or is Facebooking anything but innocent given the lack of anonymity?

Social networking websites have made dating a lot easier, if not a little too easy. Inhibitions are put away when you’re sitting behind a screen. Online dating has definitely taken the edge off meeting people and, for the most part, is usually safe for consenting adults. Nevertheless I’m still not convinced that being one of Hottest Singles on Facebook will lead to true love.

If Facebook is good for anything, its excellent for seeing what your past loves have been up to. Without having to awkwardly bump into them on the street, you can cast your eyes over their current photos and partners. The conundrum that soon arises after searching for your ex is - to add or not to add? Was our break up sufficiently mature enough for us to coexist as Facebook friends or is it preferable to stay on our respective Facebook fence sides (even if we have 10 friends in common)? Personally I prefer to stalk and run.

Cynicism and emotional baggage aside, there are always real life stories that are weakening my resolve. Last month I attended my first “RSVP” wedding, where the couple met online and were engaged within a year of being together. They’re both young (the bride was 22) and absolutely smitten with each other. The mother of the bride admitted to being apprehensive when her daughter first met the groom, but couldn’t be happier for them. Meeting partners via the Internet is becoming more socially acceptable and less like the movie So I Married An Axe Murderer.

For now, though, I have taken the advice of my astrology application (it survived the cull) which said:

“If single, you may be scaring people off with your continuous searching. Take it down a notch.”

Now if that isn’t enough to stop you from approaching a stranger on Facebook mid-poke, I’m not sure what is.