By Michael Pleasants

In this current day world in which we all live, the process of meeting people - whether it's reconnecting with folks we already know or making initial contact with possible new acquaintances - has increasingly become more of a hi-tech exchange. Operator-connected land line calls have now mostly been replaced by cell phone calls. Contents of dated pink message slips can now be found in text messages while out-of-town business trips to meet with customers have been replaced by interactive video conferencing. Where once we primarily relied upon friends, family, and co-workers to help introduce us to new people, the 21st century has brought about a slew of "new-school" communication methods. While not rendering human interlopers irrelevant, this development has nonetheless decreased their significance.

So how are people in 2009 making new friends and meeting up with each other? Well, many are using one or more applications, commonly referred to as "Apps," that dramatically increase the functionality of internet-based social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. Apps are also being offered on personal communication devices with wireless internet capabilities, such as an iPhone. The following Apps are some of the most popular ones out there and may be just what you want and need in order to make new connections.

Hot or Not: This application, one of the most popular on Facebook, is actually a derivative of the popular website. It enables you to click through peoples' photos and choose whether they are "hot" or "not" on a scale of 1 to 10. After each vote you will then be shown the aggregate rating. Elevating the Hot or Not app to a potential introduction service is its "Meet People" feature that enables you to click "Yes" to a photo if you are interested in meeting that person. [You can choose the parameters such as only viewing pics of men who only want to meet other men.] They will then receive a notification that you want to meet and then respond with an answer. Hot or Not has actually had many success stories around the world, including a Milwaukee friend of mine who recently got married to his British partner in the U.K. after 4 years of courtship.

Are You Interested?: Available on both Facebook and MySpace, the Are You Interested? application is comparable to Hot or Not except that it tracks and makes visible all of your direct responses to others as well as initial responses you receive from others. You get to see who checked out your profile, who is interested in you, and also whether your anonymous interest in someone else just so happens to have been reciprocated.

Meet New People: The companion Facebook app to Are You Interested?, Meet New People facilitates your actual physical meeting of other users. If you like someone else, you can send them a quick "flirt" message and also let them and others know the day and time you are free to hang out and where to possibly meet.

Loopt: This application turns the Apple iPhone into a potential "meet & greet" and/or "hook-up" apparatus, somewhat analogous to what Manhunt or M4M do to home computer. The latest version, available for free at the iPhone Apps Store includes Loopt Mix, allowing users to create a customized public profile that is shared with others. Loopt Mix then shows you a list of others within a 5-mile radius - based on filtered criteria that a user selects (i.e. interested in other men for friendship) - along with their pics. You can then be-friend certain users, pin point their exact GPS location on a Google Map on your iPhone's screen, and begin communicating with them via the email function. If all goes well, you could meet up, hang out, and maybe even hook up with a new friend, or friends, in a relatively short amount of time.

Peepsnation: Designed in part for the hyper-connected twenty-something segment of the population, this is the ultimate mobile social networking application for use on cell phones. It connects friends and would-be friends with similar interests in a fun, entertaining, game-like environment. The Peepsnation framework incorporates all the elements of any good addictive application: rating, ranking, messaging, tagging, profiles and pictures.