Matchmaking Service Dating Blog

Indepth analysis and news from the matchmaking service industry.

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Online dating stats: 100 million users?

I was just told there are a probably a 100 million online dating users, so I decided to check it out. Based on some rough estimating, with 16 million match.com, 10 million at date.com, 12 million at Yahoo, 18 million at friendfinder, 10 million at true and american singles, and a whole variety or other services with millions of members, it would be very, very safe to say there are 100 million people using online dating. I would daresay, worldwide, there are probably 200 million using some sort of dating service, or more.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Commitment: Dating for Love? Or Dating for Loving?

Perhaps due to the pressures of giving your everything to a relationship casually, society has molded to a strange relationship model: commitment first, relationship second. That is to say, society expects exclusiveness from the start. The same exclusiveness once reserved for marriage. Perhaps that is why marriage is out of season. What is a wedding, but a ceremony that merely resembles sex, the joining of two people in union? Surely a piece of paper, and a walk with a few words changes nothing. A wedding is a public announcement of the "union" you are about to take, so society can enforce that you stay together. Marriage is the union between two people, and that happens the moment you join together. But enough of that philosophical jabber, what does this mean for a relationship?

It means pretending to be commited to a person you don't even know is a reality for most people. This is a problem, because that kind of commitment is very difficult, without something to build upon.

That's where online dating can help you. Other than an often exaggerated photo, the only thing you can go by online, usually, is personality. This means before you ever even meet, you will have known their mind already. In the same way, friendships often make better romances, because there is something to build upon. It used to be, people would "court", which basically just means a romantic friendship between a man and a woman, without the crazy love making that is considered casual today. The type of physical emphasis society often leads to less than lasting relationships.

The best approach is to focus on finding compatibility, through common hobbies, activities, or just spending fun time together. Getting to know each other's minds before commitment, makes that commitment have something to stand on.

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Welcome to the Matchmaking Service Blog!

Our mission is to bring you the latest news about matchmaking services, dating advice, or just any thing related to dating. Our goal is to not just find you a love, but happy love! (there's the real trick!) To do so, an understanding of the dating world, and how matchmaking services can help you to find the right person can be a very important part of any dating strategy.

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