Meeting new people to connect with in this modern era is more difficult than ever, which has meant that apps such as Tinder and Bumble have become hugely popular with singletons. The days of meeting your soul mate in public now appear to be a sign of the past, with the majority of relationships now beginning online.
The popularity of the dating apps have ensured that more are being brought to market, with this exciting addition among those that are likely to become more prominent over the next couple of years. But, how did the online dating wave begin and has it become the new norm?
Dating In The 21st Century
The success of Tinder has been profound, with 25% of married couples now admitting that they met on an online site, according to Trustify. However, the success of these dating sites also has a detrimental effect on those already in relationships, with a staggering 10% of affairs starting through online sites such as Tinder. Of those affairs, 40% of them turn into in-person affairs.
The amount of people that are on Tinder is also staggering, with 50 million users worldwide. Tinder operates in 190 countries and is available in 40 different languages. It does help to create chemistry, however, with 26 million daily matches on the site and 20 billion matches since 2012. It would also seem as though people nowadays like to keep their options open when it comes to relationships, as 19% of those on a dating site will be talking to at least eleven people at one time. That is a stark contrast to the 11% of people that talk to just one person at a time, according to Statista.
Factors That Contributed To Success
There is an apparent trend that has helped dating sites excel over the past decade, and that has been due to the social media boom. Sites such as Facebook and MySpace were launched in 2004 and 2003 respectively, with both sites attracting immediate interest from people around the world. It was a revolutionary way to stay in contact with friends and meet new people. Those were just the first sites to take advantage of the latest technology, as Twitter and Instagram soon joined them.
Both also enabled users to meet new people and communicate without actually being face to face. The introduction of dating sites was just the next step after this, as in theory, it is no different from the social media sites. The success of these sites isn’t likely to stop either, with recent research showing that Millennials spend a staggering ten hours a week on dating websites such as Tinder. That figure indicates that the time that people spend on the sites has tripled over the last seven years.
However, there are also bad aspects that come with online dating, with ghosting and catfishing becoming more prominent. The key to being happy while dating online is to be safe and avoid the red flags.