Hi,
Great thread by the original poster. I just wanted to confirm that everything he's observed is true in my experience. Indeed, clubs/bars have changed their role over the past several years. Whereas previously, they were legitimate mating markets, with the two genders actively seeking each other out and exchanging numbers, nowadays they're mostly a destination for cliques (social groups of friends) celebrating special events: birthday parties, bachelorette parties, a night out, etc. Clubs currently cater to closed social circles, where meeting strangers is highly unusual. I don't think I've seen a phone number exchange in years, now that I think about it!
Believe it or not I created a very similar thread on some other game forum, discussing the same observation.
I've seen the shift first hand. Nightclubs used to consist of a large dancefloor, whereas nowadays dancefloors are rare, the space is now taken up by VIP tables and seating with bottle service. Even in popular culture, you can feel the difference. Pop songs circa 2004-2006 used to be about humping on the dancefloor, while modern Pop songs are about popping bottles (e.g. "Like a G6").
Now here comes my question. I understand this is due to Facebook emerging as the social network, and single women don't need to go out as much anymore. Makes sense to me.
Here's the problem: What if you don't have a good social circle? Since everyone's on Facebook, can you use Facebook to actually meet people? The answer is no. I've tried and had really bad results. You can't really use Facebook for romantic purposes, it's not a dating site a la Match.com. People are guarded and protect their info and girls especially, it seems to me, are wary of strangers.
So Facebook allows girls to stay home and not resort to going out, but the guys are kind of out of options if they don't have a social network, because they can't meet girls on FB as they would in a club. My question is, what's the right strategy in this situation? How do males without a large social network currently find women?