If you’ve been trying to navigate the murky throws of online dating, you may feel like you’re treading shark-infested waters. “What am I even doing?” We’ve all asked ourselves that many times. Well, it may be helpful to hear what other people are doing to make some sense of it all. Here are some fun online dating statistics that may help:
- According the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of adults polled in 2015 believe online dating is a good way to meet people, as opposed to only 44 percent back in 2005. Along the same lines, the Center asked if people who used online dating were “desperate.” In 2015 the results were 23 percent of those polled said online dating equaled desperation, whereas in 2005 results were higher at 29 percent. So it seems that online dating has become more and more widely accepted as time goes on and we all take our turns trying it.
- About two thirds of online daters actually take dating from online to “in person.” So if you haven’t done so yet, you’re still one of many who have never done so—one third of responders have yet to take the leap, says the Pew Research Center.
- Match.com says there are 40 million people who use an online dating service (we’re wondering if that includes people who use multiples sites). Either way, those are pretty good odds of finding someone to talk to, wouldn’t you say?
- Match.com also found that 33 percent of respondents met their “last first date” (as in their current long-term relationship) through online dating.
- Depending on which study you look at, you’ll find conflicting numbers of how many online daters get married and have successful marriages. We like this one: A study (funded by eHarmony) in 2013 published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that 35 percent of responders met their spouse online. The study purports that couples who met online have a 6 percent separation and divorce rate, which they say is slightly less than couples who met offline (8 percent rate).
- Apparently people lie a little on their online dating profiles. A University of Wisconsin-Madison study found that women typically said they were 8.5 pounds lighter than they actually were; men typically said they were 2 pounds lighter than for reals. Men, however, lied more often about their height by rounding up by a half inch.
- Online dating service Zoosk also collected data among online daters; it found that nearly all want a response to a message within 24 hours. The messages themselves are also important. Women want messages longer than 140 characters, though men don’t care as much. Half of online daters want to exchange five messages online before meeting in person. Mentioning a movie date increases response rate dramatically. Timing matters too; men are more likely to get a response if they send in the morning, and women should send their messages in the late evening.
- One study by MIT and University of Chicago economists found that women and men who post their photos receive more than twice as many e-mails as those without photos.
- The number of online dating sites keeps growing and growing. Online Dating Magazine estimates that there are more than 2,500 online dating services online in the U.S., and there are 1,000 new online dating services opening every year.
- The Pew Research Center reported that 15 percent of all Americans used online dating sites or mobile apps in 2015.
- Grammerly, a website that loves all things grammar, found that grammar matters with regards to online dating. Men who use the word “women” rather than “girls” in their messaging, the website found, are 28 percent more successful at getting responses. And those who use the word “whom” correctly are 31 percent more successful than those who use it incorrectly. Women also don’t like bad spellers; just two spelling errors on your profiles, guys, can reduce chances of response by 14 percent. Men, however, don’t seem to care how a woman spells.
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