Dating for the 21st Century

Created on 2008-04-10 03:19:13

There was a time when you met your partner at a bar, at church, at a party or through friends. Some people would use matchmaking services to find their perfect mate; others would use personal ads in local newspapers. But it’s the 21st century; business and technology are seriously involved in the dating game.

Not an evening goes by when you aren’t bombarded with television commercials from the online dating companies such as eHarmony.com, Match.com and Chemistry.com. The online dating services offer the services of the matchmaking companies and video dating services from the comfort of your own home. Subscribing to these companies can be expensive and the services they offer vary; eHarmony.com has compatibility levels, while SinglesNet.com and Chemistry.com both offer more basic matchmaking.

In addition to the large online dating services there are a number of smaller niche companies that offer dating services for particular social groups. There are dating services for the disabled, different religious group, military personnel and hundreds of other specialty sites.

But when it comes to effectiveness, there is no research data that suggests one of these sites is better than any of the others. Dating is subjective. Someone who looks great in their online picture may be a total turn-off when you hear them on the phone or meet them in person. It is the social interaction that is lacking from the online dating services, so despite their claims the online site can only really give you a pool of potential suitors.

Meeting someone face to face can give you everything that an online site cannot. There are a number of business models that are being used in the traditional dating service industry. One of the most popular is speed dating. This method of meeting potential partners started less than ten years ago, but by 2000 it had become part of our popular culture. Initially speed dating sounds odd, but research shows that we all tend to make up our minds about people in less than thirty seconds. So meeting 15 people in an hour is an extremely effective way of elimination without having to go on 15 first-dates.

There is no best way to meet a potential partner. If you talk to a hundred people, you may get a hundred different ways in which they met. Singles’ bars, online dating services, speed dating and matchmaking services are all options you have to find your perfect mate. Or you could just bump into them in the street, perhaps?