Friday, February 24, 2012

The Growth of Online Dating




The internet can be used for many things. We typically go online to do such things as pay bills, transfer money, look up the score of the game and look for a movie time. However, more and more people are also now going online to find true love. It used to be that finding a boyfriend or girlfriend online was the sign of a desperate person. This type of dating was typically made fun of, but that is not the case anymore. In fact, there are more than forty million Americans have tried an online dating site at one time or another. Two of the more popular online dating sites include eHarmony and Match.com. eHarmony claims twenty million users while Match.com boasts fifteen million.

Overall, the online dating industry has boomed in the recent past. This is because more people now have access to high speed broadband than ever before and are finding it easier to get online. In addition, more people may be tiring of the bar scene and believe that they stand a better chance of getting a good match when going online. As a result, the online dating industry is now worth over $1 billion each year. It is even bigger than the porn industry and many in the porn industry blame online dating for a sharp decline in their revenues. Even the mobile dating market is growing and is now worth over $550 million per year, but is expected to be worth $1.3 billion by 2013. All of this money comes from the approximate $239 that each customer spends each year trying to find Mr. or Mrs. Right.

However, not all people who are on online dating sites are actually looking for love. Research shows that one in ten users are scammers. Research also shows that not everyone is successful when it comes to finding their soul mate. One in ten users will leave the dating site within three months.

On the other hand, when a match is made, it tends to be a good one. The average courtship for an online relationship is 18.5 months while it is 42 months for couples who found each other without the use of the internet.

Of course, one of the biggest concerns about dating online is that you don't have to be totally truthful about yourself. In the online world, men tend to lie about their age, height and income. Women, on the other hand, tend to lie about their weight, physical build and age. However, most online daters say they are attracted to someone else because they have common interests. Meanwhile, only 49% of users say they decide to meet someone based on that person's characteristics from photos or videos.

Last year, more than 17% of marriages were the result of a relationship that began online. As more people turn to the internet, this is a trend that will continue for years to come. It will only be worth more in the future and hopefully, there will be plenty of future marriages and love connections as well.

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