Can you find love on Twitter? A new, free matchmaking service called 140Love.com now makes it easier. You sign in with your Twitter credentials, and after answering questions about yourself and your ideal match, the service uses an algorithm to connect you with other tweeps with whom you are compatible. 140love emails you your matches, and also sets it up so that you autofollow them on Twitter. It’s then up to you to make a connection. If you’re not interested in them, you can just unfollow them like you would anyone else.

Twitter’s 140-character limit obviously has certain constraints when you’re flirting, yet this is exactly what makes it challenging. This microblogging service relies little on looks and more on wit. In some respects, you can quickly develop an impression of someone by their tweets. A prospective date can be judged by whom they retweet, sites or news stories they link to, and whether their tweets are mundane or caustic or insightful.

One of 140love’s social media mavens is Simone Grant (@140lover on Twitter). She also writes at 140love’s blog. TechCoquette sent her some questions via email to ask about using Twitter to find that special someone.

TC: The only visual information Twitterers include is a very small profile pic. Don’t looks count?
SG: I”m not going to say that looks don’t count. Sure they count. But this “quirk” of Twitter actually gives people an opportunity to learn a little bit about each other prior to having a lot of visual information. I think that can be really good.

TC: What do you think are the strengths and limitations of finding a date (or prospective partner) via a medium that limits your messages to 140 characters?
SG: One of my favorite sayings is, “it’s not online dating, it’s online meeting”. The same goes for Twitter. 140love provides people with the opportunity to meet each other. I’m excited about it because it has all of the search features you’ll find on a premium online dating site but it’s free and it’s for Twitter users. And since I spend hours a day on Twitter, I love the idea of meeting a fellow Twitter junkie and being able to read through his tweet stream as a way to get to know him. Once people meet on Twitter, they’ll move to email and/or phone calls and then on to real world meetings.

TC: Can you share any 140love success stories?
SG: No love matches yet (that I’ve heard of) but I do know people who’ve started up new Twitter friendships with people they’ve met through 140love, so things are moving in the right direction.

TC: What do you do if — while getting to know someone — you visit their Twitter stream and see that they’re flirting with someone else?
SG: I’d be surprised if people were only flirting with one person at a time. Flirting is just flirting. I guess there are people who won’t be comfortable with that.

TC: How would you advise someone to respond to @ replies that feel unwelcome?
SG: I would advise that people ignore @ replies that feel unwelcome and to block anyone who continues to @ them with tweets that seem inappropriate. And, worst case, you can always lock your profile.

Thanks, Simone! Be sure to visit the 140love blog and 140LoveBird for many interesting articles about flirting and finding love on Twitter.

Update: Simone G. is no longer twittering from @140lover.

Related posts:

• The low-risk guide to flirting on twitter

• What his Twitter timeline is telling you