Monday, February 14, 2005

Search Cost of Love

Finding your soulmate requires you to spend time, money, and energy to find him/her. The equation for search cost is:

search cost = your attractiveness + social networking skills + search time cost + search financial cost

Attraction
Attractiveness refers to your ability to attract potential lovers. Attractive people meet potential lovers easier than less attractive people. They are approached more often and are invited to more social events. Attractiveness is more than physical appearance. Factors that influence attractiveness will be explained in, Rules of Attraction, which will be tackle in future blogs or may depend on reader's demand.

Social Networking Skills
Falling in love is a numbers game. The more people you date, the better your odds of finding your soulmate. You meet potential dates by having a large social network. Social networking skills are skills that allow you to expand and maintain friendships. Examples of social networking skills are abilities to initiate a conversion, to follow up on new friends, or to maintain existing friendships. Expanding and maintaining your social network require you to have good etiquette, good hygiene, and communication skills. More elaboration in this topic can also be made based on reader's demand

Search Time Cost
How much time do you have to search for your soulmate? Great social networking skills are worthless unless you have time to use them. You need time to maintain your existing circle of friends and extra time to expand your network to find your soulmate. That means you need to allocate time to go to clubs, bars, and other social events. Search time cost increases as your selectiveness increases. Search time cost is mathematically written as:

search time cost = free time x selectiveness

Search Financial Cost
Search financial cost is the amount of money you spend to expand and maintain existing social networks. The bigger your social network is, the more money is needed to maintain it. If you are selective, you will need a bigger social network to find your soulmate. Mathematically, search financial cost is written as:

search financial cost = social network size x selectiveness

Financial Cost to Expand and Maintain Existing Social Network Size
Expanding and maintaining your social networks require you to invest financially. That means money for buying drinks, dinner, club cover charges, association membership fees, phone bills, and gas to travel. For productive people, search time cost translates to search financial cost. You could have used the time wasted on dating to further your career.

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