These women are dying to meet you. Check them out at xyz.com. Such lines are very common in e-mails sent by dating sites. They say love is in the air, I would like to reframe it to Love is on the net. Gone are the days when single used to mingle in a bar, bus stops, libraries, parks, etc. The venue has now shifted to web.

The demand and the rise of dating sites have tremendously increased in past few years. According to a research by Media Research Inc. around 2.5 Million people in USA had participated in online dating activities for a given month in the year 2007. The figures are said to have doubled in the current year. According to the report men were slightly 8 % more in numbers compared to women users, i.e 52.2 % were men while 47.8 % were women.

Why do people prefer dating online?

I asked several questions to various people and some of the points are as follows:

1. Shy: This is the most common answer expected from both men and women who search for love online.  Since in online dating you meet people online maybe on a site or a chat room there are more chances that a person might open up since they need not face you (also can be vice versa).
2. Net Practice: I also asked many people online why do they flirt online? This is what I got for an answer: Even the greatest batsmen like Sachin Tendulkar needs net practice to keep him going. Same is the case with us. We need to practice so that when the time comes we are ready for a real date.
3. Mixed flavor: Why do I limit myself to a specific region or country when I can get different flavors from various countries? Besides that who knows someone special might be out there in some foreign country.
4. Connectivity: Since the entire world is now going online its easy to keep in touch with people whom you barely met.  Services like e-mails, ims make our lives easier and we can talk for hours and hours. In a way it helps to save our phone bills. Lol
5. Stories: This is the easiest part that people fall for. They read some stories on a particular dating site and then all of a sudden all the dreams about Mr. Right starts arousing from nowhere. Most of the people fall for the stories posted on dating sites about how the couple met on the site and fall in love.

Match.com, Yahoo Personals, Catholic Singles.com are among the top sites where people generally hang out to meet and search new people.

The modern day dating has taken a new route. People now Google about a person they meet online. It is after this they decide to move on or dump the person. New York Times has a very interesting article on this you can read it here.

Besides for the dating sites the rise of non dating sites and services is extensively being used for flirting and dating. Sites like orkut, facebook, myspace are the leading ones. Besides for these sites yahoo chat is the most common place where people hang out to meet new ones.

The new generation applications like rate me, flirt with me, etc are the most common way to meet new people. First they rate their pictures, profiles, etc and then send a friends request once accepted the process of flirting starts. Though I am not sure of the outcome but many of them said that the person who sent them the friend request seemed nice for the first time. But gradually they came to know about them and their intentions.  So far I have received mixed reactions. Many said they were cheated, while many were smart enough to recognize the person’s intention during the first chat. Many of them were happy and considered themselves lucky enough to meet their loved ones online. There are also ill effects of dating people online you can read it here.

The online dating market is surely huge and has a great potential. But I personally feel that the future is about Social networking sites and second life. Whether love or jobs, I personally feel that people would be searching it on popular social networking sites by being part of various communities and participating in group activities. Specially the second life where people can edit and give a new look to their online face. Besides that you would also have options to select your background where you can carry out conversations in parks, bars, libraries, etc so that you can relive the old moments. A lot more will be done in second life.

I would like to know your thoughts about the future of online dating.

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