Making Believers Out of Doubters When Connecting Singles Online
Posted: Friday, August 28, 2009
by Samantha Summers
Online Dating is definitely a highly lucrative industry. Presently, there are more than 800 dating sites with active members. The smaller sites boast of nearly 70,000 members while the big players have members in the millions. The advent of online dating matching and compatibility technologies has also helped spur the growth of the industry and give it some legitimacy. Many people still don't get it, what's so great about online dating?
Singles can meet online through internet dating. Sites match singles based on different criteria such a personalities, likes, and lifestyles. Once a person joins a site they can begin to search for their own matches or let the "system" suggest them.
Connecting singles online is one of the most competitive internet-based industries. Mega players like Match.com and eHarmony sometimes have more than 60,000 members joining on the same day. This phenomena started when people first began utilizing the communication capabilities of the internet nearly 10 years ago. Email and IM started a revolution wherein people could meet and talk to anybody anywhere in the world, whom they would have otherwise never even known about.
After a slow start, the concept of online dating left behind fears of online predators and became immensely popular. In less that 5 years people started to acknowledge that they could find their love match online. It was practically hassle free and offered a certain sense of anonymity making connecting singles online a fun and safe process.
The introduction of online chat in 2005 was a huge step forward for the industry. Members to a site could have real time conversations with potential matches. Internet dating sites grew exponentially in this particular year. Over 26 million singles signed on to find their true love and online dating became a booming business.
Alright..I'm Convinced
So now we are aware that internet dating is huge. The actual question then is why it gained so much popularity with people from across all walks of life. It seems there is no limit to the types of singles engaging in online dating. According to experts, the reason for this is that any person looking for love has been humiliated, hurt or shot down at some point. Internet dating on the other hand allows potential dates to start their relationship in a more open manner with some form of a safety net between them.
"people want to commit but don't know how. Online dating serves as a matchmaker and online dating matching technologies have really paved the way for adoption. The village matchmaker allows the matching of couples based on socioeconomic status. Whereas today's sites do the matching on the basis of interests or personalities" says an author on this industry named Jay Young.
There exist mega sites with millions of members and also other more specific niche sites. Posting on either or both of these types of sites are options available to online singles. KIKIDEE is one such single who posted her profile on tattooosingles.com and Match.com. She thinks that this way she will be more likely to find a person accepting of her quirks.
Online dating was initially though to be unsafe and "nerdy" notes Jay Young. Security issues have been addressed and sites now educate members in staying safe. And as for the nerdy label? Take a look online and see the many different personality types looking for a match .
Doubters do still exist, but not for long for even they are constantly meeting others who found love or friendship successfully over the internet. It doesn't take long before the doubters decide to try online dating. With the sites also now secure there is only everything to gain.
Samantha Summers is a staff writer for several online dating and relationship websites and e-zines. Currently she is writing for OnlineDatingVille.com. Read more about online dating matching and compatibility technologies and how they are affecting the online dating landscape.
This Article has been viewed 181 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.