Online Dating Research

Andrea and Scott Detling met on an online dating site, and they are now happily married with three kids. Without the online source of connection, Andrea and Scott would be living separate lives, unaware of how there was someone perfect for them in the same city. Many people all around the world are turning to online dating in order to have successful relationships. The most popular dating websites, such as Match, eHarmony, and ChristianMingle, match members with other compatible members with the hope that they can form a relationship. These websites also provide an easy, fast way to meet new people outside of family friends and work colleagues. In today’s age, online dating websites are a new, successful approach to creating long-lasting relationships.

These websites allow people from all over the world to connect with each other, although the majority of members use the online site to meet new people in their city. Because each site has a vast variety of members, there is a significantly larger portion of people to date than there would be offline. One study explains how “the pool of prospective partners is likely larger online” (Reich) because the average friend group is miniscule in comparison to the millions of people that a member of an online dating site has in their reach with a single click. “Online dating websites allow you to meet people you would be unlikely to encounter through conventional avenues, and this opens the door to more potential romantic possibilities. You can meet people from all over and find singles with similar interests and priorities to better your chances of a quality match” (“Benefits of Online Dating”). Clearly, one of the benefits to online dating is the greater opportunity to meet, and possibly connect with, many more people simply because of how online dating sites bring together, on some sites, millions of people in one forum. Therefore, a membership to an online dating website provides one with seemingly limitless possibilities for a successful

In a world in which many people are embarrassed to share everything about themselves, dating sites allow for people to list their goals, interests, and wants, to then be matched with people of similar interests. Many websites, such as eHarmony and Match.com, require its members to fill out personality tests, which are one of the many matchmaking strategies employed by online dating websites. These questionnaires aid in the online dating process and connect compatible people with one another, possibly providing for the establishment of a romantic relationship. John Tierney, a writer for the New York Times, explains how the companies of top dating websites claim that they are responsible for at least two percent of marriages in America (Tierney). Dating sites also allow people to choose for themselves what traits they want in a person. Instead of relying on a friend or family member to pick someone out based on what he or she thinks will be a good match, a person can view the traits of a potential partner before committing to a date. After learning a broad range of facts about another person, it becomes easier for someone to match themselves up with others and plan dates (Finkel, et al). With the help of dating websites, someone’s desired traits can be easily matched up with someone else, and these desired or shared traits can connect compatible