No Valentine? You Can Make One Up On InvisibleBoyfriend.com
Looking for a Valentine? A recent study found there 20,000 more single men than women in the Bay Area. So, depending on what you hunger for, well… you do the math, and may the 'odds be ever in your favor.'
Now if you haven't managed to find that special someone in time for this Valentine's Day weekend, there's a new online service that offers users an invisible "significant other."
It's called InvisibleBoyfriend.com ,and its counterpart is InvisibleGirlfriend.com. The sites allow users to give their fake boyfriend or girlfriend a name, occupation and even a picture.
The site says, "finally a girl/boyfriend your family can believe in." The service promises you "real-world and social proof that you're in a relationship - even if you're not - so you can get back to living life on your own terms."
One woman's invisible beau, "loves to ski and go horseback riding, he's very athletic."
She didn't want her name revealed because she's been lying to friends and family. She said she did it because she was tired of people pestering her to go on dates.
"My mother is always asking when are you going to get married or are you seeing anybody."
For a monthly fee of $24.00 she gets 100 texts, a handwritten note sent to her and even voicemails she can play for her friends.
One message said, "Hey I just wanted to call and tell you that I miss you."
The concept is the brainchild of Matt Homann of St. Louis, Missouri.
Homman hires people to be on call and play the role of a significant other. He says hundreds of Americans have already signed up for the brand new service and they have various reasons why.
"There are people who are getting hit on at the office by a co-worker who would like to have a bit of a story to say their dating someone," said Homann.
Divorced mother Mary Wheeler initially signed up after being pressured by friends to date.
"My initial thought was to pretend but I couldn't do that," said Wheeler.
Eventually she confessed to everyone her date was a fake, but has decided to stick with 'him' because she enjoys the texting.
"He's an intelligent person," she said. "It's like I invented this person and the conversation is even better than I anticipated it would be."
Her boyfriend may be invisible, but for Wheeler the benefit is very real.
InvisibleBoyfriend.com and InvisibleGirlfriend.com are looking into adding new services like delivering gifts from that "special someone."