You can post your blog response about online dating in the comments section below. Your post will be due before class on Tuesday. Assignment criteria:
Write a short essay of 250 words or more about a particular sociological aspect of online dating. How is your topic sociologically interesting? This can focus on a particular website and its business model, how much money it makes, how the website works, the ways it controls behavior of participants. You can focus on how certain demographic groups interact online. How demographic groups are targeted by certain websites. How social power is created online. Dating among a particular institution: religion, profession, etc.
You should open with an illustrative story. Then present your argument. Then present your data. Do not include long quotes from the source(s), write in your own words. Include your reflection on the topic. Introduce your link (author, title) and include it in the text or at the bottom, but definitely refer to it specifically. Have a conclusion.
Here is an article “Dating Services in the U.S.: Market Research Report.” In this report we learn that the business makes $2 billion/year, with an annual growth rate of 4.8% and employs 7,649 people, through a total of 3,851 businesses.
In class on Tuesday, we will watch the documentary When Strangers Click.
Sociology of the Family 
Topic: Membership for online dating sites. The difference between those that charge and those that are free. Which are more effective and why people pay for these sites.
Within the last few years, online dating sites have become very popular among singles. Not only has it provided another social networking site for people to find dates/relationships, it has also become a trillion dollar industry.
The business aspect of these dating sites generates millions of dollars per year. These sites make their money from ads sponsored by corporations. They also make money by charging people for memberships. Online dating sites that are free get their profit from ads. It generates a lot of marketing information and allows certain ads to be displayed on the website. But there are still several difference between paid and free online dating sites.
Paid sites such as e-Harmony charge $60 a month for a membership. It’s the most expensive online dating site. This particular site does the pair matching for the member. It matches people based on a questionnaire (personality test) that is filled out my the member. There also included a tips section. Match.com is another payment required online dating site. It charges $30 for a month. Its the cheapest online dating site. It finds matches based on keywords members use on their profile page. It also has a mobile app for smartphones. True.com is another online dating site. This site charges $50 a month for membership. This site has less members than Match.com but more members than e-Harmony. True.com requires members to submit a back ground check. This is the only requirement that other sites don’t ask for.
Plenty of fish is a online dating site that does not charge for membership. It has the most members (compared to eHarmony, Match and True). Free online dating sites usually have the most members because its free. Because it is free, there are more people on the site and there are more people to connect with. A lot of people choice to join free online dating sites out of curiosity and for a way to meet new people without having to pay high costs. Free site members are less likely to be looking for a relationship. They see the free site as an opportunity to meet people and go on dates. Paid site members are more likely to be looking for relationships. Members that pay for online dating sites are less likely to be scammers as compared to free site members. People on free sites are less likely to find someone serious and committed to a relationship. Members on paid sites are more likely to be serious and interested in the dating scene. They are also more likely to be active on the site. Paid sites are also more safer for their members. Such as True.com, this site asks for a back ground check to protect other members. Gives other members real information about an individual and less likely to be made up and faked. Paid sites are also better at matching members together. They match members based on interests, age, religion, etc. Free site members are basically pair people together by location (how far away they live from each other). Paid members are more likely to find more serious relationships. Match.com states that it is responsible for 12% of all dates in the United States. eHarmony states that it accounts for 5% of all weddings in the United States.
For both free and payment sites, all members give out a lot of data about themselves. On all sites, people can lie about themselves in order to make themselves more desirable and attractive. Sites cannot control if their members lie. All sites require their members to judge others by their provided information and pictures. The dating world has become very impersonal because of this and there is less personal connection because people talk online through messages via online dating sites. Free sites have a large variety of people to connect with, unlike payment sites. A lot of free site members complain about strange ads on their site. Free sites use more ads in order to make a profit. On paid sites, these ads are there, but they are more regulated and not as “unattractive” as ads on free sites.
There are both positive and negative aspects to online dating sites. Again, online dating is still a new and up coming topic and things can change within the next few years. Choosing a dating site depends on the person and what they want to get out of online dating. Free sites have a more variety of members and is less serious to relationships while paying for dating sites is more protected, safer and serious for finding a date or relationship.
Thousands of couples meet each year on Match.com, claiming that if it weren’t for this website, they would not have found “the one”. My roommate’s cousin and his girlfriend actually met on Match.com. Her cousin made his account about nine years ago. Him and his now girlfriend were matched by the website, and met up and went on a few dates. They have now been together for seven years. This is just one of the many success stories of healthy and lasting relationships made by Match.com.
Match.com is one of largest online dating industries in the world, and also one of the cheapest online dating sites. Match.com is responsible for more dates and relationships than any other dating sites. With about 1.8 million paying subscribers, the site makes hundreds of millions in revenue each year; it is one of the most profitable and successful sites. To start your profile, you fill out a survey that tells a little about yourself and what you are looking for. You then can start your search for a partner and begin to get matches with people who are similar to you. With this, you can begin connecting with them through messages, chats or emails. Charging $30 a month, this website helps connect single men and women who have similar hobbies, interests and are looking for dates and relationships.
But my question is if people really know what they want when they are plugging in the information of their “ideal man” or “ideal woman” into the website. Could they be plugging in tall, brunette, white man but may in fact find someone completely opposite of this and fall in love with them? The Match.com system for finding matches originally only made matches based off of interests and hobbies and only followed what each person wrote that they wanted. Now, the people running the company realized that what people say they want is in fact not really what they are looking at. With a new system of finding matches, Match.com not only takes into consideration the similarities between people, but keeps track of what each person is clicking on and looking at. It is learning from the actions on the site. “So, if a woman says she doesn’t want to date anyone older than 26, but often looks at profiles of thirty-somethings, Match will know she is in fact open to meeting older men.” (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f31cae04-b8ca-11e0-8206-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Edt43OB8) Research has found that many times the subscribers have found great partners and relationships in someone they never thought that they would want to be with.
From this I feel like we can conclude that people don’t always know what they are looking for in a partner. They might have an idea of what qualities and values this person must have, but I don’t think you ever can really know what type of person or their looks you are searching for. You can be surprised with the type of person you fall in love with. You can’t put restrictions or be so quick to deny someone, because that person could have been the one.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f31cae04-b8ca-11e0-8206-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3Edt43OB8
This is a website that explains they way Match.com matches their customers and how it keeps up with their changing interests.
http://www.datingsitesreviews.com/staticpages/index.php?page=Match-com-Statistics-Facts-History
This is a website that lists out the statistics of Match.com within the last couple of years.
Topic: Compare the different countries that use Zoosk.com. Does this have an effect on the way Zoosk runs their business?
At this day in age, people aren’t meeting each other at bars, restaurants, or social settings like they did years ago. They’re meeting through friends, or through work and classes. However, a lot of people meet through the online dating scene. Actually, one third of all American couples have met on online dating websites, and then after talking on the phone, or texting for a while, finally decided to meet in person. These dates can work out horribly, but many people do find luck on the sites. For example my Aunt met her 1 and ½ year boyfriend on an online dating website, they talked on the phone every night for a month before meeting each other for coffee, and they hit it off right away. Little do any of these couples know, the website they met on is probably a lot more interested in the money they make, than in the actual “matchmaking” part of the business.
Zoosk is one of the top 3 dating websites, and the number 1 dating app in the app store, that is, because so many people use it. Zoosk has 25 million members, and 650,000 are paying customers. They earned 178.2 million in just 2013 alone, which is a 44% increase rate since 2012. 50% of all revenue comes from just the mobile dating app.
Zoosk is run very similarly to other dating websites:
You fill out a mini questionnaire, write a little about yourself, post a picture, and then pick the people you are interested in, and get rid of the people you’re not.
However, unlike other sites, you are not allowed to message, or “wink” at many people until you are subscribed. Subscribing to this website is about $30 per month, or $75 for the year.
While reading an online questionnaire about Zoosk (http://www.experienceproject.com/question-answer/Has-Anyone-Ever-Used-Zoosk-The-Dating-Website-What-Did-You-Think-Of-It/249432) I found out that people from Zoosk even make fake profiles to message people just to get them to subscribe to the website, almost as if it’s a scam.
According to Population Reference Bureau’s data taken in 2008, (http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2010/usintermarriage.aspx) only 9% of Caucasian people, 16% of African American people, 26% of Hispanic people, and 31% of Asian people marry out of their race. Does this data have an affect on the way Zoosk runs their business?
Zoosk must be familiar with those statistics because on the website you are not able to pick what ethnicity you are interested in, or looking for, Zoosk automatically pairs you up with the people that have the same ethnicity as you; (http://www.politicalforum.com/political-opinions-beliefs/308078-zoosk-racist-website-4.html). Therefore, if an African American woman was to sign up, but she was interested in white men, she wouldn’t find anyone because Zoosk would automatically pair her with the African American men.
Kevin Lewis also researched this topic to find out why this was occurring. Lewis states that even with online dating, we still see racism, because if a person isn’t attracted to a certain race, they will skip right past that person without even reading any biography or background information. By automatically matching people to the same race as them, they already have a better chance of finding “the one”, instead of having to “skip” through all the people, as stated before (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/06/racism-online-dating-habits_n_4226797.html).
With all of this information being out to the public, one would think that Zoosk’s customers would be decreasing, however, Zoosk’s customers and ratings are just increasing by the year.
Zoosk states that they have over 80 countries that use it, and people that speak over 25 different languages. This is so that they can get more people to use their site, and they can keep increasing in profits. Zoosk believes that if they state how many countries use it, than more people from that ethnicity will begin to join in hopes to “find” someone from that certain ethnicity.
However, that is very misleading. Even though they state that it used by 80 countries there is only 5 countries that actually use it a fair amount, the other countries only have 2% or less people subscribed. According to Alexa, (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/zoosk.com) The United States makes up 52% of Zoosk, along with South Africa with 7%, Germany with 4%, United Kingdom with 4%, and Brazil with 3%. Therefore, your chance of finding someone outside of one of those countries is slim to none.
Online dating is becoming more popular every year. People use online dating sites, such as Zoosk, in hopes to find a soul mate. However, with racism now occurring online, it’s going to make it even harder for people to find someone. And now, after many polls and surveys taken about online dating with other ethnicities, Alex and Shayan (the founders of Zoosk), are going to have to look at matters through a business perspective, and try to find out the best ways are to increase their profits. Hopefully, the best way to increase won’t be through being racist, and people will be able to surpass their differences in order to find someone they love.
My question for this blog focuses on the demographics of PerfectMatch.com. PerfectMatch on the surface is pretty much like any other dating website. The main goal of PerfectMatch.com members is to find a partner. PerfectMatch, unlike competitors like EHarmony, offers same-sex dating options. The website is looking for members who are looking for long term relationships and not just casual dating. This is why the amount of 50+ year olds on the website has increased over time. Statistics also show that 55% of PerfectMatch users are female and that 50% of the users are between the ages of 35-54. Another stat shows that 34.7% of members are from the United States, while just 8.3% are from Canada. In terms of total members on the website, there is no specific amount listed. However, a representative from the site has released that nearly 20,800 new people join every single month. This equates to about 500,000 new members who have joined since 2012. The website is 80% Caucasian, 9% African-American, 7% Hispanic, 3% Asian, and 1% are of other ethnicities. The income of the members of PerfectMatch is pretty spread out, as 19% make under $50K, 27% make between $50-$100K, 25% make between $100-$150K, and 28% make over $150K in a year. PerfectMatch is a pretty good dating website for a person who is looking for a long-term partner. The website has not had any major controversies in regards to how it is run ever since it was founded back in 2003. The demographics of the website appear to be diverse, except for 80% of the members being white. The fact that the income of the members is so evenly distributed and how thousands of new people join every month, shows the website’s purpose reaches out to a lot of people. I think the fact that the website continues to add thousands of new members every month says that a lot of people, in particular middle aged men and women, are looking for comfort that they have either never found, or are trying to get back. The other fact that PerfectMatch isn’t even the biggest online dating website, shows that traditional dating methods are becoming a thing of the past.
Link: http://www.10bestonline.com/top_10_best_online_dating_reviews/PerfectMatch_review/
Topic: The common misconceptions women have on online dating and their initiative to reach out to males.
My Grandma began using online dating about six months ago, as she felt it was time to move on from being a widow. She was skeptical and nervous to use any online dating site, as she felt there would be no man out there that would reach out to her. Fortunately, she was one of the few that reached out to a few local males that shared similar interests to her, and luckily she not only received a confidence boost, but a second chance. My Grandma is now happily dating a man around her age locally, and I’m happy that she was one of the few women that take the initiative to reach out to men first on online dating websites. Online dating is a growing interest for any demographic. For some, they feel they will never find the right one, so online dating opens up many doors. All online dating sites are different, but it is important to open up and search out all options when dating online or in general, instead of waiting for someone to come to you.
In today’s society, there are many misconceptions when it comes to online dating, which can affect a woman’s desire to initiate contact with others online. According to a study done by Dr. Michael Mills on Psychology Today of 86 Heterosexual Undergraduate Students (31 F, 55 M), it was reported that 93% of females prefer to be asked out instead of asking someone out, where 83% of males preferred to ask a female out. This statistic shows the common misconception that women have about men wanting to be asked out on dates, and how some men do prefer to be asked out, much to the dismay of society’s beliefs today. For many people, gender roles come in to play when looking for significant others on online dating websites, and many women feel that it is up to the male to make the first move. This expectation of males to reach out first causes many females to not feel the need to initiate contact first, and they are in turn stuck with no messages online from any males and that male waiting for an opportunistic female to write to him is waiting by the computer. An eagerness for females to reach out to males is harder than it sounds, as society today has made it difficult for women to feel comfortable reaching out to men online. The societal misconception that women are in charge when it comes to dating has created a fear of rejection for many women, or simply the fear of not feeling good enough. As stated by Dr. Nerdlove, “Women have to overcome generations of social programming that insist the women never make the first move.” From this quote we can take away that societal gender roles have began to dominate and change traditional thoughts and ideas, since we as a society are starting to break away from the idea of men making the “first move”. Even though online dating is made a lot easier by being private online instead of public dates at first, there is a misconception by many females either based on past experiences or by friends’ experiences from online dating that many men are liars. This misconception of males lying on online dating websites causes women to not trust any males online, where they’re then “forced” to either lie about themselves in fear or not use dating websites at all. This causes females to not want to reach out to any male in fear of being lied to, and for some, this causes them to step back from online dating all together showing no initiative. Females should definitely be careful of who they’re speaking with, but as an online article by Match.com puts it, “People don’t lie because they’re online; they life because they’re liars.” One misconception that I found that could significantly decrease a female’s initiative is the fear of the unknown. Once she takes the first step online and they finally go out on a date, everything seems great. Unfortunately, online dating is not a perfected science, and females are then caught in the nervous fear that a man has found someone better, which can cause females to feel down about themselves and not be motivated to reach out to males anymore. Online dating has many kinks that need to be fixed before they can fit every singles’ comfort level, but it is my hope that one day females can eagerly go on online dating websites with little to no fear of rejection from the misconceptions they hear about or past experiences.
I don’t believe there will ever be a time where women will be free of hearing about the different experiences each single has from online dating, but it is up to us as a society to change the misconceptions we hear about into positive beliefs. Each person in this world has the chance to find happiness, and if a women has the motivation and initiative to step outside the box and find that person, then who knows how far we can go to change society as a whole.
Link on Psychology Today Dr. Michael Mills Study:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-how-and-why-sex-differences/201104/why-dont-women-ask-men-out-first-dates
Link on Women overcoming past Societal Gender Roles:
http://www.doctornerdlove.com/2014/02/why-women-dont-approach/
Link on Common Misconceptions of Online Dating:
http://www.match.com/magazine/article/11955/5-Online-Dating-Misconceptions/
Topic: Who people are choosing to date based on race, including stats.
Quite obviously, each person is going to learn towards a certain “look”, or maybe different or specific races in searching for a significant other. We all say, “looks don’t really matter” or “their skin tone doesn’t reflect my opinion”… But in actuality, it does to people, and what they say and what they do are questioned today.
In the article I read, Online Dating Shows Us the Cold, Hard Facts about Race in America by Jenny L. Davis, we get to see the real realities of who is saying yes or no to different races. At the end of 2013, Quartz, an online business website, put out data to the public on the Facebook app Are You Interested. In these series of yes or no questions, users rate partners who they could consider dating, as well as receive response rates between users.
The data found that most men (except Asian) preferred Asian women. And all of the women (except black women) preferred white men. The lowest ratings were those of the black men and women.
This makes me wonder, how true is this, and how much does race actually impact a user’s decision on their selection… It also makes me wonder what types of people (how judgmental, how not judgmental, past partner of different race, no past partner of different race, or even how quick to judge or quick to click an answer?). We will never know all of the answers to these questions, but we can assume, or dig deeper.
It is also interesting that the response rates of the men saying yes or no are much higher than that of the women. This could have played into the results definitely. I wonder if more men use the app, or perhaps men aren’t as hesitant to answer these questions? It could also be that men know what they like more than women, but hey I’m just theorizing some of this now.
The part in the article about color-blind being popular in much of the population is fascinating. One who is color blind… “those who label contemporary society post-racial” (directly from article). This goes back to the what they say vs what they do topic. When it comes to selecting a partner, I’m guessing that people are pretty serious about their selections. And this makes us question how far we have gotten in our mostly “post-racial culture.” I wonder why we chose the people we chose and are not attracted to some races…But on the other hand, facial characteristics play a bigger role in my opinion than race, as I think it could for many people. Race would not stop some from being attracted, but for some, it could. I also wonder if people are honestly choosing people based on their looks.. or maybe racial identity is a bigger factor in their interpretation. Stereotyping and bigotry still exist today. I don’t think there is one answer for each person at all.
What is great about these online surveys is that sociologists, or perhaps whoever is viewing and seeking this information, is usually getting an answer that that person would maybe otherwise not answer truthfully. Online, people often think things are anonymous, and even if they aren’t (like this one was), they answer fairly truthfully.
I believe that doing these yes or no’s online is a reliable way to get an answer, yet it still forms many underlying questions that provide us with even more surveys, or even polls.
I wish it covered questions about race of facial features though.. It is a little one sided.
I think a bigger question could be brought on about culture vs race.. Because culture could play into these results just as much, or even more. I feel as though culturally, you learn about a person in a more of an overall analysis rather than race.
What people say and what they do could be questioned forever, but at least we know that that we can question them and say that they are not the same in reality.
Link: http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2013/12/11/online-dating-shows-us-the-cold-hard-facts/
I conformed and made a Tinder a few days ago. I kept hearing people talk about it so I decided why not try it out. My first priority right now is not looking for a relationship or even sex, but most of the guys I have met so far are looking for one thing, and that’s not a relationship.
Signing up was super easy: I just connected the app to my Facebook profile and voila! The app works by showing you pictures of people: men, women, or both, and then you also choose the age range you are looking and the distance away from you. Pictures of people show up on the dashboard and you swipe to the right to show you are interested in them, or swipe to the left to show you aren’t. When you and the other person have both swiped right on each other, then there is a match. Once there is a match, either one of you can send the other a message.
I mean this sounds too easy, even easier than Facebook. After having it for a couple hours, I had well over 50 matches and at least 25 messages from guys. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to just swipe right and bam, I have made a new friend. As the day continued, I found myself becoming more and more entangled in it. I wanted to keep going through the people and responding back to messages.
What I found though, is most men who messaged me, wanted one thing, and no that is not me making them a sandwich. Based off of my pictures, guys talked to me. This is the world we live in. Beauty is what defines you as a person. But I am on the site because I want to meet new people, attractive or not, if they’re a good person, then that’s all I care about. Some of my girl friends on the app are looking for what most of the men are looking for: sex, and they claim to be ok with just having that. According to the article, “How Tinder Solved Online Dating for Women,” women claim to be ok with the casualness of the app, but in reality, most “do want to be in a long term relationship.”
Some logistics of Tinder: fastest growing free dating app, creates more than 2 million matches per day, and about 200 million ratings are done each day. It’s pretty popular, to say the least. Interestingly, the article claims that women need details about men, before deciding if they’re interesting. BUT, Tinder changes this. Women are making their decisions based off of a couple pictures and maybe a quote. Another component is that women do not face the onslaught of messages; they only receive messages from those who have indicated an interest. Women and men are flocking to the app because it’s casual, simple, and fast.
One thing I find interesting is the power between men and women in the app. The hooking up vs. dating article we read, talked about how the power has shifted to the men. In this day and age, it seems to be mostly hook up era. And in that, the women wait for the man to initiate when they hookup, and then if anything happens after that. This is how I’ve always been raised; the guy is to come to me. Using the app, that’s what I did, I never started a conversation. Talking with my girl friends, they said the same thing, they felt it was awkward to start the conversation, seeing as how we are female and that’s against the norm. I think it’s clear that this app makes it easy to meet people, but it also reinforces who has the power in the hookup era.
Funny Memes:
The article used:
How Tinder Solved Online Dating for Women
http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/10/how-tinder-solved-online-dating-for-women.html
Imagine online dating, sites like e-Harmony or Match.com as financial markets. In a financial market, a buyer is looking for the best seller of whatever it is they are interested in buying. A buyer wants to find the best product at the best price, and will ultimately make a decision based on what they believe to be the best opportunity to invest in. This is exactly what the online dating market is; a market for men and women, to search for a companion through a pool of profiles, choosing only the ones that meet their desires and expectations.
So then the sociological question that arises in regards to the idea of online dating acting a “dating market” would be: Who, demographically, has the advantage and the power? Is online dating a buyer’s market for women or is it a buyer’s market for men? I would agree that online dating is a buyer’s market for women, but first, let’s examine a couple of statistics that include the ratios of men to women on dating sites.
This link, http://www.webpersonalsonline.com/demographics_online_dating.html, which gives a few different online dating demographics, shows that some of the most popular dating sites have a much higher percentage of female members than male members. More than half of the members that belong to Chemistry.com, eHarmony, and Match.com are female. In this case, it wouldn’t be disagreeable to argue that men have more of a buyer’s market than women when it comes to online dating because there are more women for men to choose from.
However, let’s also consider what this article from Rochester University, http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3995, has to share. The article declares that men viewed three times more profiles than women did, and men were approximately 40 percent more likely to initiate contact with the woman after viewing her profile. So, if women are primarily being contacted by the men (more often than not), then this would mean that the men have shown their interest and the woman is making the decision as to whether or not they will pursue this man, which ultimately gives them the power of the final decision; yes this man is a potential match and it is guaranteed that he is interested in me as well, or this man has shown interest but he doesn’t meet my standards and therefore, I will not pursue him.
All in all, although there are more women than men on the popular dating sites and it would make sense that online dating would be a buyer’s market for men rather than women because of this statistic, I would argue that online dating is actually a buyer’s market for women. Women are more often messaged and approached by men online, so it is up to the woman to make the decision on whether or not they will buy into the possibility of dating this person. The man makes the woman aware of his interest in her, and she is then left to decide if she will engage with him or not. Of course, women also have the opportunity of reaching out to the men and showing their interest first, but because it’s more likely for men to show their interest in the woman, it seems as if the power to approve or disapprove is truly in the woman’s hands, in turn swaying the online dating market in the women’s direction.
Here is another link that describes some differences between online dating for women versus online dating for men. The link includes points about how competition between attractiveness of men and women plays a role in online dating, as well as how women receive more messages than men in an online dating experiment, and even an example of a message left from a man in a woman’s inbox.
http://www.evanmarckatz.com/blog/online-dating-tips-advice/is-online-dating-different-for-men-and-women/
Topic: How marriage is affected by online dating
Its crazy the world we live in today how everything is based on social media the newest gadgets and online social networking sites. It seems that everywhere you look there is some type of advertising, social media, or electronic device. Over the last few years online dating has spiked. Today more than 1/3 of recent marriages in the USA started from online dating. Research has also shown that couples that meet online have happier, longer marriages.
Where did the “love at first sight” or meeting your soulmate in a coffee shop go? Has that all disappeared? Its not about how you met someone or who introduced you anymore. Its about how many likes you got on a picture and how matches you have on an online dating site like eharmony or Christian mingles. They say opposites attract but online dating sites tend to match you with people of similar interests. Maybe one of the reasons online marriages work out so well is because you’re matched with people who like the same things you do. Online dating makes things easier, but it can sometimes be sketchy. Not only can online marriages match you with people you are similar to but they can also control demographic differences.
Are we so eager in the world we live in today to find our significant other that we turn to online dating sites for help? Over the past couple of years online dating has become more socially acceptable. A few years back more people were ashamed to admit they met their boyfriend or husband for instance on an online dating site. But it seems that in the world we live in today more and more people are meeting online and it has become more socially acceptable.
The social media has played a big role in making online dating more common and acceptable by all of the advertising they do. Think about how many times you’ve been watching TV and a commercial comes on for some online dating website. You see that happy couple on the screen that says how they met online and how they’ve been together for three years and couldn’t be happier, they even go as far as to say that you should try the website too. This draws people in, they play happy music, everyone is smiling and the couple they put on the commercial looks so happy. This is a strong tactic for online dating sites, it makes people think “well, if they’re happy and they’ve been together for three years. I might as well give it a try.” People forget that they hire actresses and actors to be on commercials to draw you in. Not only does TV advertise but sites that people frequently visit like Facebook have advertisements all the time for online dating websites.
Technology runs our lives today and according to this article, the number of marriages that break up or end is greater for people who didn’t meet online v.s people who did meet online.The survey given for that study was based on questions about their happiness, degree of affection, communication and love for each other in their marriages.
Online dating can make it easier to meet people you wouldn’t normally meet in a social setting. For people who aren’t as approachable and outgoing online dating may be there safe place. People who don’t like coming out of their comfort zones have an easier time adjusting and meeting people online and then taking it to the next step. Who knows maybe five years from now you’ll be on the latest online dating site meeting your future husband to be. Most of the responses to the children of the next generation when they ask how we met our significant others are going to be “on eharmony” or “Christian Mingles”
http://news.uchicago.edu/article/2013/06/03/meeting-online-leads-happier-more-enduring-marriages
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/04/online-dating-leads-to-hi_n_3384721.html
It is safe to say that the dating scene has changed in the past 20 years; this is mainly due to the heavy dependence of social media websites. Dating has been hugely affected by this there are many different dating websites that one can go to try and find love. This business has grown so large that several smaller websites have emerged that target specific groups of people. I am going to look at one website in particular named black peoplemeet.com. However, this particular site has come under fire by many people saying that it is a racist website.
I want to rid this notion that you are not allowed to join the website if you are not African American. The website is marketed towards mainly African American’s and will cost $29.95 a month but of course it does turn away people who don’t fall into that category and are willing to pay the fee. The majority of people who are subscribed to the website are African American they make up 87%, the Caucasians take up 9%, Hispanic 2%, Asians 1% and the all the other denominations make up 1%. As you can see from the statistics that there are all different types of people that visit website.
This website mainly consists of females that are of African American descent and this is because of what the stats revel when you look at racial preference. Black women are statically more likely to respond to a black man then to any other race. This is why I don’t believe that this site is racist because it does not exclude anyone from joining it. I think that it is the same as saying exactly what you prefer your partner to look like. There are a lot of people who say that if it were the other way round and was called Whitepeoplemeet.com there would be uproar. I don’t think that this would happen because all it is preference besides, in the entire general dating websites, there are filters so see what shows up on your screen.
A statistic that I found very interesting is that the majority of people are between ages of 35-49. Seeing as the internet is a relatively new thing, I would assume that younger people are more likely to date online. But the reason could be because of the change from classic dating to the hook up scene, where younger people are not looking to date.
What has to be remembered about this website is that it is a business first, this means that you have to question the genuineness of all the dating websites to help you find your true match.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2511049/Online-dating-app-reveals-race-matters-romance.html
http://www.giveyourhandabreak.com/sites/blackpeoplemeet/
Topic: Compare the different statistics on eHarmony. What is the ratio of men using this site compared to women? What do they expect from one another?
There are many dating sites that have their own “success stories.” eHarmony is a well-known dating website where many people search to find “the one.” Why do people resort to online dating in this present time? Well, the answer to that question can vary. For example, my cousin who was 27 at the time, hadn’t found anyone who she wanted to go on a second date with. She then researched into online dating. She chose to use eHarmony and met her current husband. Although she was a little skeptical about using an online site, she had her own success story. Online dating has become a very prominent factor changing the way relationships function within our society.
eHarmony has developed into an extremely successful online dating site. It started in 2000 and has resulted in 762,000 members in 2014. eHarmony is ranked #1 for Number of Marriages created by an online dating site. (25.04%) More than 600,000 married couples were said to have found love on eHarmony. (According to http://www.datingsitesreviews.com/staticpages/index.php?page=eHarmony-Statistics-Facts-History) eHarmony costs one $59.95 a month to be an active member on this particular site. Many argue that eHarmony is more expensive than most online dating sites. Many people also argue the fact that once on the site, one can not perform their own search. eHarmony does this search for them based off of their profile. eHarmony also only allows one to communicate with those who have subscribed and payed. eHarmony is an online dating site in which both many men and women can be found searching for one another.
What makes eHarmony different from most of the other online dating sites is that it is considered to be “front-loaded,” which means that before you start you fill out a lot of questions and essays ahead of time before you even get to meet or associate with anyone. This particular process could take several hours. http://loganlo.com/2011/01/online-dating-eharmony-vs-match-vs-plenty-of-fish-vs-ok-cupid.html After filling out the questions, eHarmony preforms the searches for the user.
The ratio of men to women on online dating sites can vary. On eHarmony, there are 20+ million singles. Within eHarmony, the statistics state that the ratio of men to women is relatively close in ratio. Although, there are slightly more women then men on eHarmony. The exact ratio according to http://www.nextadvisor.com/online_dating/eharmony_review.php is 43% male and 57% female.
An online dating survey taking from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/27/eharmony-dating-survey-singles_n_1711407.html shows the percent of couples that meet online is 1 in 4, and these numbers are still on the rise today. For these numbers, eHarmony polled over 2,000 men and women. These men and women also admit to “stalking” their dates online before accepting to go out with them. The trouble with eHarmony is that the user can’t pick the person until they are clarified by eHarmony as a “match.”
Another interesting yet believable statistic was that in which women tend to post more pictures then men. (6.4% vs. 4.2%). 67% of men reach out and communicate the first time. A poll on women said that the thing they look for most within a guy online is a man displaying pride. As for men, they statistically said that they look for happiness within a woman. The men and women who are involved on these sites look for many things within the other subscriber. The statistics between the two genders can vary based on the online dating site itself. For eHarmony it just so appears that the distribution and ratio between the genders is fairly equal. These two genders both go onto these dating sites looking for the same things.
Online dating has become a huge epidemic within the past decade. Many people find it to be more successful than meeting someone in person. According to Forbes, a survey that was commissioned by eHarmony found out that couples who get married after meeting online are more satisfied than other couples. http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2013/06/08/eharmony-finds-a-perfect-match-in-a-scientific-journal/ I think online dating with only become a more popular way to find the “perfect match.” Men and women are the foundation of these sites, and the ratios will continue to fluctuate as online dating becomes more popular. Although its rather frightening to think that something as important as a marriage might eventually be depended on technology, there is no stopping people from logging onto these dating sites and creating a profile for themselves, in finding the hope for a significant other.
Imagine living in a rural, Midwestern state where meeting your mate is limited to a small number of people where your family and community are conservative, heterosexual beings. Historically, individuals who didn’t share the same beliefs and social practices were forced to leave their environment to search for a partner or lifestyle where they could belong. Enter the new millennium where online dating accepts everyone. In this current culture of online dating, we are introduced to Grindr.com. Grindr is a social networking site geared toward gay, bisexual men. It was the first geosocial app that appeals to men through a launch in the ITunes App Store. It is currently available in 192 countries and is the most popular network in the mobile gay community (http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/232672).
The initial release was March 25, 2009 and is available through Apple iOS, Android and Blackberry OS. Grindr is based in the United States and has gained popularity worldwide primarily by word of mouth and some media venues. Founder Joel Simkhar, announced that it officially hit 4 million users in June 2012 with close to 1.1 million online users daily. In March 2011, Grindr announced the straight version was under development and later that year launched Blendr for people of all sexual orientations (http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/09/08/app-watch-iphone-assisted-dates-go-straight/) After winning many awards; Grindr updated its apps and required users to create accounts, and added filters for people to identify themselves with different groups. In March 2014, it was estimated the app obtained 10 million user downloads and over 5 million monthly users worldwide.
As with any controversial, alternative behavior in modern society, criticism is likely to ensue. Grindr is not insulated from it. Some critics claim Grindr’s use of metaphorically describing their clients or preferences as a food classification is not only derogatory but offensive and racist. They use terminology such as “No curry”, and “No rice”, or “No chocolate”. Grindr claims they are responding to personal preference and cannot police the users and their identifiers (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/relationships/love/dating/no-asian-no-indian-picky-dater-or-racist-dater/article2348129/).
Some of the positive benefits of using Grindr, is that it has expanded to the heterosexual and homosexual communities alike within an individual’s geographic region. Users enter their demographic data with a photo and a few stats such as height, weight and age. No nudity is allowed to be posted. The edge this company claims to provide is taking the guess work out of assuming who meets a particular stereotype by providing individuals with close proximity and an accurate biographical description with certain preferences. According to Simkhai, “We show you who is around you and sometimes you become friends and sometimes, you fall in love.” Online dating takes the anxiety out of meeting individuals in person until they have had the chance to get to know each other to decide whether or not they are interested and are willing to connect. This has opened up another dimension to society and how people connect and become true-life partners (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/feb/06/grindr-gay-straight-dating)
Just when Connie was losing faith in being united with the man of her dreams, she found Bryan. They were cautious about dating online, but having “emotionally and spiritually connected” they knew it was real. This is a success story from a dating site called interracialmatch.com, its slogan being “Love me, love my color”. Nowadays, there are websites specifically geared for users to search for and find a date of a different race. Interracialmatch.com is just one example of a site that was created exclusively so that users could find a partner of a different race online.
With a growing interest in online dating, more options are available in specifying exactly who is being sought after. People often find themselves attracted time and time again to a categorized group of people whether it be physical traits, abilities or interests. When one has an individualized group like this, the preference may be described as that person having a “type”. For some, the “type” they seek as a dating partner is strictly someone of another race. This is apparently a common phenomenon online because according to the study Patterns of Racial-Ethnic Exclusion by Internet Daters by Belinda Robnett and Cynthia Feliciano, only 15.5% of Latino males prefer partners of their own race and only 5.98% Asian females prefer a partner of their race. These numbers are very low which means the majority on the other side of those statistics are seeking a relationship with someone of a different race.
When working with just Black and White online dating users, more information is revealed. Black/White Dating Online: Interracial Courtship in the 21st Century by Gerald A. Mendelsohn, Lindsay Shaw Taylor, Andrew T. Fiore, and Coye Cheshire reports interesting findings from an in-depth study. It was discovered that Blacks, especially Black men, are more open to interracial dating than Whites and that Blacks were 10 times more likely to contact Whites than Whites were to contact Blacks. Also, an average of 40-46% of people surveyed, responded that they do not have a preference and would date any race. This study also shows the preference of many online daters for finding love with someone of a different race than their own.
Though the system is effective and leads to many positive outcomes, there is something peculiar about it. It seems wrong to discriminate against many types of people and specifically search for one type and in this case, race. On the other hand, in real life it is perfectly plausible to be attracted only to people of a certain look or ethnicity. This is the fine line between real-life interactions and online dating. While it is normal in real-life to make the conscious decision to be attracted to one race, it is awkward to check a virtual box saying what race is preferred. Instead of letting the world play out on its own, the computer automatically focuses the user on the perfect set of characteristics. It seems odd, but if it works and promotes love then who can complain? Yes, online interracial dating sites are companies and a way to pay the bills, but the success stories make it clear that these sites are doing positive things for society. More interracial couples mean families being raised with a mix of cultures. This hopefully will foster a more welcoming and diverse nation with peaceful relations among races.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=25fb3d64-7fd8-4515-b64f-39871e85f475%40sessionmgr4003&hid=4205
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=985f0f6c-c099-4194-b9cd-443dcff77bf6%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4205
interracialmatch.com
Internet dating was once looked at as a failure and frowned upon in society, however today it has become one of the most common ways for singles to meet. People have created generic websites that anyone looking for romance can join, and more specific websites for people sharing a common idea. One of these things is people’s desire to have a shared love for religion allowing people to “Find God’s Match for You,” thus came the creation of christianmingle.com.
As of today, there are more than eight million single Christians signed up to find their match from heaven. Christian Mingle is the nations leading dating site for religious christians looking for love. It is not free to have God aid the love finding process, the monthly price is $29.99. However, the website fails to mention that most of their users are on the trial offering. Out of the 8 million, only about 154,000 pay for God’s match making help. The trial is free and allows the users to add pictures and create a profile. These trial users cannot talk to any of the paying users. Some of the many convince found on Christian Mingle include the use of speed dating at locals churches. They find that Christian Mingle is a safer way to meet people with commonalities.
Christian Mingle’s marketing has been aimed to target christian singles, but they cannot exclude other religions from their site. For instance, it is said that 80% of the singles found on Christian Mingle are actual Christians. There is no absolute guarantee that the match one may find is of the same religious belief. Another issue that Christian Mingle has is how their money is handled. In the first nine months that Christian Mingle started they made 22.9 million dollars, but they spend over 30 million dollars on marketing and advertising nationally. The slogan that Christian Mingle uses causes controversy within other Christian dating sites like ChristianCafe.com. While Christian Mingle focuses on how God will be able to match users to their love, ChristianCafe aims towards the members believing in the same ideas with the help of God guiding them.
Christian Mingle has had successful matched many single men and women together because of their common religion. Unfortunately, the website has been advertising their website, which allows everyone to join. Because the website cannot exclude a religion, people on the site may not be the desired religion of the users. The development of online dating sites has expanded the nation’s ability to mingle and meet other single people easier.
Links:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/evoking-god-has-been-good-to-christianmingle/2013/01/09/c3f28148-59dd-11e2-9fa9-5fbdc9530eb9_story.html
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-28/at-christianmingle-and-jdate-gods-your-wingman
When you see commercials promoting dating websites these days, the people always look so happy. There’s also usually a spokesperson promoting the website and he too is in a cheerful, good-spirited mood. He seems very happy and pleased about the two people that become a couple, but he’s not happy about that. The truth is that he’s happy because his business is making money. That spokesperson may be a little happy for the couple, but he really doesn’t care too much about that, he’s happy about his business more than the happiness of the couple. That’s how all dating sites are. People think dating sites are made to help people and make the world a better place, but that’s just not true at all. People who create and work for dating sites are only interested in the money. OkCupid.com is just one example of the many dating websites today. OkCupid.com makes a huge profit from people visiting and becoming active members on the site. Dating websites are a business that is looking to make money, it is simple as that.
OkCupid.com is an obvious example of a dating site that is a business and is purely seeking to make money. They even developed a complex math algorithm to match people up on the site! The first link below is a video that explains the complex algorithm that OkCupid.com uses and it shows how the point system works and matches people. One main reason they developed this algorithm is to get people on dates and meeting each other because they earn money off of every date that occurs. The second link shows how OkCupid.com makes up to $3 on every date that happens. Every time a person has a date, they go on the site after and choose a “kudos” meter. It basically has you tell them how well you enjoyed the date. Each “kudos” earns the site $3 and there are a ton of “kudos” because the algorithm created gives people their best possible match.
Three dollars per date really doesn’t seem like that much money though. Even if both people liked the date, that’s only $6. So how does OkCupid.com make so much money? Well since the website was created, there have been 10 million members. $3 from each of them adds up to a lot of money. The website also makes money off the advertisements that are shown on the site. OkCupid.com receives approximately 3 billion page views per month. With that many people viewing the site there will be companies looking to advertise and OkCupid.com pays dividends off that. Another way they receive and save money is the fact that the entire company or website has only 40 employees. That’s a very small number for companies, so with not many salaries to pay, they can keep more of the revenue that they make from the site.
OkCupid.com is one of many online dating websites that are in it for the money. This business is smart because they have made strategic moves like developing an algorithm and keeping members active via text messages. This company’s effort has kept them in the upper tier of dating sites and continues to attract people. The creator of OkCupid.com is very smart and has developed a great business that appears to viewers as a helpful site.
The last link shows statistics about OkCupid.com and its history.
http://www.refinery29.com/2013/02/43131/how-ok-cupid-algorithm-works
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-15/love-is-blind-and-costs-3-at-okcupid
http://www.datingsitesreviews.com/staticpages/index.php?page=okCupid-statistics-facts-history
Topic: Online Dating on Facebook and fake profiles.
Many relationships now a days are started from online dating sites instead of meeting in person. Online dating is becoming more well-known and common in our generation which can also increase relationships made behind fake profiles. Facebook is the most popular social network and attracts users of all ages and this is mentioned in this article- http://mashable.com/2011/11/04/facebook-most-popular-forrester/. Facebook isn’t just for dating, but many people use this site for dating purposes. If an individual wanted more or a different type of interaction, they could easily make a new account because facebook accounts are free to the user. Since facebook is such a popular social network, there are a lot of opportunities to meet other people that may not be as determined to find a relationship as someone who is only making the page to find their soul mate.
People who pay to be a member of a dating website are more likely to be committed to find that “perfect someone.” Dating websites that customers have to pay for are going to have a higher percentage of relationship successes because the customers who joined are both looking for the same thing and prove it’s important to them.
According to an article on Facebook Statistics that was refreshed this past summer
http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/, almost 3 million messages are sent every twenty minutes from users. 2 million friend requests are sent every twenty minutes. These connections that are made might be the only communication some couples have if their relationship start on Facebook. This also mentions a there are about 81,000,000 fake profiles that are in use right now. 20 million Facebook related apps are downloaded each day and this could include dating applications. Fake profiles are commonly made and contacted mainly to start romantic relationships with other users. These accounts are made with much easier access because they are quick to make, copying and posting pictures is easy, and it is free. The MTV show Catfish proves that there are people out there who use mainly Facebook to find relationships that turn out to be fake most of the time.
Fake profiles unfortunately are turning out to be more common in our generation. Getting associated with people with fake profiles can be avoided by buying a dating website membership to meet more trustworthy people. Facebook is growing each year and reaching out to new users, so this will broaden relationships across the country and around the world.
Meghan Reilly
Topic: Racial Segregation Online
Last year, I participated in a psychological study that tested individuals’ reactions to interracial couples. Though I don’t know what my individual results were, the results of the overall study were that, despite claiming to support interracial dating and marriage, most people still had some degree of bias against these couples. Same race couples were seen as more correct than interracial couples.
Looking at online dating, we find similar results from a more sociological perspective. A study the website Okcupid.com preformed using data from their own website, which can be seen in the link at the bottom, found that more than 93 percent of people claim to believe that interracial marriage is not a bad idea. Additionally, when asked if they would strongly prefer to date someone of their own skin color or racial background, a significant majority said no. However, Okcupid found that people were generally significantly less likely to respond to messages from people of another race. It goes further than that though. Okcupid found that White males and females have a significant advantage in online dating. This is partly because there are more White males and females on Okcupid than other races, but also because every race is most likely to respond to White men and women over other races, excluding their own race. For example, a Hispanic women is most likely to respond to a Hispanic man, but a White man has a very good chance of being responded to my the same women as well. However, a Black or Asian man is unlikely to get a response from the same woman. Okcupid found that it goes even further than that. Okcupid lets you select multiple races to identify by on their site, and even selecting White with something else increased your ratings. Essentially, being part-White, part-anything else, allowed you to be seen by other users as White.
An article in Time magazine, from the link at the bottom, states that these racial preferences that appear in online dating actually go far enough to result in racial segregation. Each group essentially sticks to their own group with fairly little intermixing. However, this study suggests that there is another factor at play here. Rather than racial preferences, this study suggests that people do not attempt to connect with people of other races due to fear of rejection. People are generally worried that the other person will have a racial bias. Additionally, the study suggests that people tend to form relationships with people who have had similar life experiences. People of their own race are likely to have experienced racism the same way in their lives. However, White people tend to intermix at much higher rates than other races. The study suggests that this is because they have had few to no experiences of racism that cause other races to stick to their own race. This result is Whites having the advantage in online dating, as stated by the Okcupid study.
Looking at these two studies sociologically, it is obvious who has the social power in the online dating world. Whites have the advantage in online dating, and likely in other forms of dating as well, though it is hard to obtain that sort of data. Therefore, the White population has greater social power than other groups. This gives Whites the ability to set societal norms, including dating specific norms such as beauty standards.
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/your-race-affects-whether-people-write-you-back/