However, a problem of virtual relationships research is that the external validity of any study in the area can be questioned, this is because the relevance of research support changes rapidly as technology and social media platforms are updated and the way that we interact with them changes. Research which was conducted before and around the year 2000 is very different to the more modern day studies as the way we interact with people over the internet in today’s society has changed dramatically. For example, in the 90’s, databases were used to match people in romantic relationships based on their answers to personality questions. Nowadays, people have a much more active role in initiating virtual relationships with the use of social media platforms, Facetime, emoticons and Tinder. As a result, the temporal validity of the early research can be questioned as it may not be a true representation of our understanding of virtual relationships in today’s society.