Tech Space

It’s Valentine’s week! A time for hastily buying chocolates and flowers in an attempt to put material values into how much you like another human being. What happens when you don’t have a sweetie to shower with gifts however? Do you wait patiently for February 15th to enjoy National Singles Day? Happily, we’ve the internet to the rescue. Those of us looking for love have a wide range of apps and websites to help us along! But how did we get here from the personal columns of yesteryear? Grab a pina colada and join me for an escape into the world of online dating.

Like so many things technology, online dating has been around for considerably longer than we might think. The first modern, web-based dating service appeared back in 1995 and is actually still with us today. Match.com is widely credited as being the earliest example of dating sites as we know them today. A couple of small sites did exist prior to that, but they mostly served as proof of concept. It’s fair to say though that we’ve been leveraging the internet to make more than just connections between computers for quite some time.

It’s wildly popular too! “We met online!” Is now the most popular answer amongst couples when asked how they came to find each other. Around 40% of Americans have some experience with web-based dating, and that number is only set to grow as we live ever more connected lives. The stigma surrounding it has all but fallen away. There has also been a number of studies to suggest that meeting your other half online actually results in fewer failed relationships. Tinder, a fairly well known dating app largely focussed on more casual meetups, is surprisingly responsible for matching 30% of engaged couples who met online. You guys met at a bar? How quaint.

It’s not all sunshine and roses (presumably by the dozen) though. One of the more unpopular things about dating online comes down to a necessary evil: your profile. Although lots of sites now give you tips and templates to try and give the best overall picture of what you have to offer as a partner, you’re still in some part reduced to paragraphs and photos. While around 60% of online daters say they’ve had a positive experience, that does leave a decent amount of users feeling frustrated with the process. Distilling yourself down to lists of hobbies, photos by the lake and witty anecdotes doesn’t always come easily, and seldom offers the whole picture.

The real secret sauce separating these services from one another is their algorithms for finding you a match. There is some science at play here. While things like your location and age will be major factors, there’s been a lot of research into what actually makes up a successful relationship. When programmed with this data, a site can show you matches whom you’re more likely to form a deeper connection with. It’s time and money well spent too, as what better advertisement for a dating service is there than a successful couple? With roughly $3.5m up for grabs, being the best at providing those connections is incredibly lucrative.

Online dating is one of those “new normals” we face, like having a Facebook profile or owning a smartphone. A strong point here to bear in mind is also an arguable rarity for a new technology; online dating doesn’t render anything obsolete. It’s simply an option. It doesn’t stop anyone from meeting what I’m sure will soon be referred to as “the old fashioned way”. A tool in a single person’s kit. If you don’t like it, don’t do it. Or alternatively, there’s always the 15th to look forward to.

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Richard Noble is the founder of Want for Tech, an IT company in Glasgow.