Mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating

Mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating

 · This Valentine's Day, fewer singles searching for love are tethered to laptops or those other technological relics: desktops. Just as other industries have watched online traffic and business The online dating marketplace has undergone dramatic changes since we conducted our first study on this subject in In particular, many services now offer cell phone apps that allow users to update their profile, search the profiles of others, and find potential dates in their area using their mobile phone The adoption of technology has changed the way we connect and mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating with others in our society and dating is no exception. The prevalence of smart phones mean we are always contactable, social media allows others to get to know us before we have even met, and dating apps give us an abundance of choice in a suitable partner or partners

Free dating seite: Mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating

She's a paying member of the dating website HowAboutWe and also mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating the mobile app SinglesAroundMe. Arseniuk, a writer in New York, plunged into both about six months ago after the end of a three-year relationship. She says the phone app is particularly handy. It's about exploring all avenues and putting yourself out there. The mobile dating segment is projected to double its revenue over the next five years.

This Valentine's Day, fewer singles searching for love are tethered to laptops or those other technological relics: desktops. Just as other industries have watched online traffic and business migrate from the Web to mobile devices, the dating industry has been rolling out apps that are connecting hearts, and breaking them, in surprising new ways and splintering an audience once captured almost exclusively by the goliaths of online dating, mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating.

If you have a specific dating need to be fulfilled -- from the sacred to the scandalous -- there's probably a site for you, many with their own apps as well. The niches range from ethnic, religious or age-based to sites for occupations FarmersOnly. com or eating preferences VeggieDate. For gay men, there's Grindr. com and a site launched in December called Stagg. The idea is you like pets and I like pets. That's the level it's gone," Lesnick says. That's where it's heading.

Among the satisfied customers are Melissa Levine, 27, a physician mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating, and Corey Pew, 29, an engineer. They met on the niche site JDatefor Jewish singles, and will marry next month, mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating. Inhe moved to Austin. Levine was moving there as well and started looking online for Austin daters. She had tried JDate after college graduation and "ended up going on horrible dates.

Weird, weird guys. Until Pew. I was talking to two guys on JDate at the time and planning on meeting both. I went on the date with Corey first and canceled the other date," Levine says. In less than two decades, online dating has soared and is "in the growth phase of its economic life cycle," says an IBISWorld report. Though to year-olds make up the biggest chunk of users, with to year-olds next in line, demand is expected to increase with the north-of crowd, too.

More than one-third of Baby Boomers are unmarried, and as more and more migrate to the digital world, the industry is beginning to target this unattached and largely underserved market. Just as the social stigma of "online dating" has begun to fade, the name itself might also go the way of dial-up Internet service.

With the dating industry moving so rapidly, the phrase "online dating" will soon disappear from the lexicon, says Sam Yagan, CEO of Match, Inc. comChemistry. com and all online dating operations for the global operations of its parent company, IAC. Whether it's an app for a dating website or a dating app alone, mobile is "leading the industry's growth," says Caitlin Moldvay, a senior industry analyst at IBISWorld, based in Santa Monica, Calif.

She calls "a significant milestone -- it was the first year people spent more time on dating apps than on dating sites. It was a huge change from the year before. It's also heading to even bigger money. Nielsen reports that the number of Americans using apps or a mobile version of a dating website was These apps are downloaded free, but communication with others on paid sites requires a subscription, which entitles users to the same access -- online or mobile.

As the focus has shifted to apps, the online dating website category has seen a drop in visitors over the past two years. About That makes it inherently local and mobile," says Yagan, 35, of New York, who co-founded the free dating site OkCupidwhich launched in and is now part of IAC.

Last month, OkCupid launched Crazy Blind Datea mobile app that arranges blind dates with just a few hours' notice and allows singles to provide real-time feedback. Part of IAC's strategy has been to purchase niche dating sites, with 37 brands in more than 25 countries now under its umbrella. IAC acquired DateHookup last year, OkCupid inSinglesnet in and People Media -- which includes sites such as SingleParentMeetDivorcedPeopleMeet and InterracialPeopleMeet -- in What happens after people are connected via apps or dating sites is more difficult to quantify.

Some sites, such as eHarmonydo more than collect profiles of singles shopping for a date. They have users fill out detailed questionnaires about their personalities and what they want in a potential match. The site pairs them up using proprietary compatibility algorithms, mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating. Although research published last year found "no compelling evidence" that such matching software better predicts compatibility, one can't help but wonder how many online matches actually lead to the altar.

Sociologist Michael Rosenfeld, of Stanford University, set about to answer this question. Rosenfeld's earlier research has found that about one in five new relationships began online. The findings are based on a Harris Interactive online survey of 7, adults ages who were married between January 1, and June 30, Founder Neil Clark Warren, 78, acknowledges a "significant lag" in business over the past few years, and he is aiming for rejuvenation by transforming eHarmony into more of a "relationship site" that will help sustain couples who met on eHarmony.

The company's mobile app, launched inis key to this revival. The challenge for the industry long term, experts suggest, is that its goals -- making money and growing an audience -- are somewhat at odds with those of its customers. How do we extend that time period? Valeri Ziegler, 54, of Santa Paula, Calif. She's tried free sites and paying sites and now says "I just don't have the energy for it. His research found that the wish list of traits when searching online for a romantic partner doesn't matter as much as you might think.

Once you've met in person, you stop using your wish list to evaluate the person, he says, citing a study he co-authored that was published mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Chemistry -- you can assess that in four minutes. That is the thing driving your responses," Eastwick says.

Mark Brooks, a consultant who has studied the industry from its infancy, mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating, says the online and mobile dating industry is more than just a business: "Going mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating where it is now and where it's going to be in the next 20 or 30 years time, I'd be hard-pressed to think of a business -- outside of the medical industry -- that will have more impact on society.

Mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY USATODAY. Share your feedback to help improve our site!

The online dating marketplace has undergone dramatic changes since we conducted our first study on this subject in In particular, many services now offer cell phone apps that allow users to update their profile, search the profiles of others, and find potential dates in their area using their mobile phone  · Whether it's an app for a dating website or a dating app alone, mobile is "leading the industry's growth," says Caitlin Moldvay, a senior industry analyst at Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins The adoption of technology has changed the way we connect and mobile apps tap the changing face of online dating with others in our society and dating is no exception. The prevalence of smart phones mean we are always contactable, social media allows others to get to know us before we have even met, and dating apps give us an abundance of choice in a suitable partner or partners