G10 Global wonders if dating websites are really that successful that 1 in 5 of all relationships start online, how do they do it.
August 5, 2011
There are hundreds of online dating websites that all claim they can help you find your perfect match. The results show that in fact, 17% of all long term relationships and marriages started online. G10 Global investigates how the internet has changed our society, bringing people together by providing them with a medium where they can be matched up by experts.
Top dating websites such as Match.com, eHarmony, Perfectmatch.com, Matchmaker and many more all run advertisement campaigns that aim to reach out to lonely hearts by luring them in saying their best chance to find love is to sign up to their site. As reported on Mashable.com we have all spent time pondering what makes two people a compatible couple, but few have put as much time, money and Ph.D.’s behind this question as online dating websites. Back in 1995, online dating was an obscure (and somewhat unconvincing) practice. Now one in every five new relationships starts with online dating, and G10 Global learn that when you have 16 years of data like Match.com or 14 years of data like eHarmony, you are able to develop hundreds of equations to help match couples.
According to Match.com President Mandy Ginsberg there is a great deal of mathematics behind improving the amount of successful matches. Firstly, a lot is based on the survey you fill out about yourself, your preferences and what you’re looking for in a partner. However, what people say and what they do don’t always match up and because of this variance, Match.com’s considers what “must have” criteria you will compromise on and at what point you make those compromises. As well as tuning into your behaviour to decide who you might like, Match.com also tunes into the behaviour of people who are like you. It considers people who your behaviour twins have interacted with to be more likely matches for you. It’s another way of determining what you like even if you can’t articulate it.
Match.com’s mathematical matchmaker poses some interesting questions about human nature. Can an algorithm figure out what we really want in a partner better than we can articulate ourselves? G10 Global wonder if dating websites will be the first to figure out what it is that really make people click?
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