Online Dating - A Passing Trend?

By Jim Mcmenamin

For anyone who thinks that online dating is a passing trend, I just bumped into an article that shows its popularity increasing. The study was based out of Great Britain by the dating agency Parship, and it makes two fantastic claims.

"Nearly eight million Britons used some form of online dating service in 2007, compared to 5.4 million who used a mixture of offline and online services in 2005."

"Over 53 per cent of singles intend to use the internet to meet someone in the future, rising to 65 per cent of 36 to 40 year-olds."

These statistics are incredible, and it shows that people don't attach a stigma to using online services. In fact, these statistics show that your network or pool of available matches is much larger than relying on the traditional method of hoping for a chance encounter.

The increased use of technology is the driving force behind this. People use email, text messaging and instant messaging while at work. We log onto the internet to get almost all of our news, and we use the internet to do research when we're in the market to buy something. People are comfortable using these mediums of communication, and online dating is just another extension of that.

Singles are increasingly aware that using an online dating service will drastically reduce the amount of time it will take to find that someone special. It gives you the benefit of "meeting" someone online without having to go through the time and expense of a traditional date.

You also are able to "meet" many different singles as well. You can have ongoing discussions and/or emails with multiple singles at once. This is not considered "cheating" in online circles. Once you've had a chance to get to know a little bit about a person, you can set about arranging that first face-to-face meeting.

The savings in time is well worth the small investment involved with joining a dating site. For $15-$25 per month, online dating sites offer real value for singles. Whether you are a single mother who only has time for herself once the children are in bed or a working professional who is constantly away on business, online dating provides you the perfect platform for meeting that someone special on your own schedule.

The quotations in this piece came from an article written by Clement James titled Single Brits Looking for Love Online at vnunet.com.

Jim McMenamin is the webmaster and creator of MacsDatingSite.com, a blog dedicated to the various issues of online dating. For a limited time, Jim is giving away two free eBooks, 10 Tips To Writing Your Online Dating Profile as well as 101 Steps To A Happy Relationship, when you sign up for his newsletter.

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