Though most people meet their dates at social
organizations, in their daily life, or are introduced through friends or
relatives, commercial dating agencies emerged strongly, but discreetly, in the
Western world after World War II, mostly catering for the 25–44 age group.
Newspaper and magazine personal ads also became common.
In the last five years, mate-finding and courtship have seen changes due to
online dating services services. Telecommunications and computer technologies
have developed rapidly since around 1995, allowing daters the use of home
telephones with answering machines, mobile phones, and web-based systems to find
prospective partners. "Pre-dates" can take place by telephone or online via
instant messaging, e-mail, or even video communication. A disadvantage is that,
with no initial personal interview by a traditional dating agency head, Internet
daters are free to exaggerate or lie about their characteristics.
While the growing popularity of the Internet took some time, now one in five
singles is said to look for love on the Web, which has led to a dramatic shift
in dating patterns. Research in the United Kingdom suggests that as of 2004
there were around 150 agencies there, and the market was growing at around 20
percent a year due to, first, the very low entry barriers to setting up a dating
site, and secondly, the rising number of single people. However, even academic
researchers find it impossible to find precise figures about crucial statistics,
such as the ratio of active daters to the large number of inactive members whom
the agency will often wrongly claim as potential partners, and the overall ratio
of men to women in an agency's membership. Academic research on traditional
pre-Internet agencies suggests that most agencies have far more men than women
in their membership. [citation needed]
Traditionally, in many societies (including Western societies), men were
expected to fill the role of the pursuer. However, the anonymity of the Internet
(as well as other factors) has allowed women to take on that role online. A
recent study indicated that "women pay to contact men as often as the reverse,
which is quite different from behavior in telephone-based dating system[s]"
(from Wired magazine).
The trend of singles making a Web connection continues to increase, as the
percentage of North American singles who have tried Internet dating has grown
from two percent in 1999 to over ten percent today (from Canadian Business,
February 2002). More than half of online consumers (53%) know someone who has
started a friendship or relationship online, and three-quarters of
18-to-24-year-old online consumers (74%) say they do. There is also some
academic evidence that the 18–25 age group has significantly taken up online
dating. This growing trend is reflected in the surging popularity of online
communities such as Faceparty, Friendster, Facebook, Facebox, MySpace, and
Nexopia sites which are not directly geared toward dating, but many users
nonetheless use to find potential dates or research a new acquaintance to check
for availability and compatibility.
Mobile dating websites, too, are gaining popularity.
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