Online dating service

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An online dating agency is a business model in which singles look for a partner on an internet portal, usually for a steady relationship. Such a dating platform differs from the single exchange in that casual contact and flirting are also possible there, while the members of the agency are looking for a life partner. The online dating agency is also characterized by the type of brokerage, namely the bringing together of members with the greatest agreement ("matching") by making partner suggestions after a personality test.

Procedure

The placement usually begins with a personality test in which information about the new customer is collected. The focus is on areas that operators believe are important in a long-term relationship. Using what is known as matching , the participant is then introduced to members whose personality profile shows a high degree of agreement. As a rule, the search is initially anonymized by assigning a cipher to each member . Also, pictures of the members are often not immediately visible, but can be released individually. Another component of the online dating service is a seriousness or profile check, which is intended to protect members from dubious contacts. Often times, the price of membership in an online dating agency is significantly higher than that of a dating or single exchange.

According to the operators, online dating agencies are mostly aimed at people aged 30 and over who are looking for a long-term partnership.

Types of online dating sites

There are different types of online matchmaking sites that differ in the way in which the user is referred to the potential partners. This can be done through active or passive action on the part of the user.

Self-selection websites

With this type of online dating sites, potential partners are generated by the customer looking for potential partners himself with the help of search terms such as character traits or attributes.

System selection websites

"System-Selection Websites" use a mathematical algorithm to find potential partners for the customer, which the customer receives as partner suggestions. This process is carried out by the site operator, so the customer takes a passive role here.

Hybrid websites

The so-called "hybrid websites" are a combination of "self-selection websites" and "system selection websites". The customer has the opportunity to actively search for potential partners as well as passively to receive partner suggestions through mathematical algorithms.

Larger internet dating agencies on the German market are u. a .: FriendScout24 , ElitePartner , Parship , Be2 , partner.de and eDarling . There are also dating agencies specializing in a target group, such as B. for Christians, for Jews or for Muslims as well as for migrant groups.

Components of the process

Personality test

According to their own advertising claims, scientific personality tests are part of the offer at many online dating agencies. They help to analyze the personality, interests and attitudes of the members and in a next step to find the partners in the member pool who fit the person well above average. The tests that participants take at the beginning of their membership deal with personality traits that are relevant to a happy partnership (e.g. closeness and distance) as well as social skills , interests and motives for action. An individual profile is then created based on the answers in the test. One problem with such surveys is what is known as “ social desirability ”: This is the case when respondents give answers that they believe would be more likely to be agreed than the truthful answer.

Matching

Matching is used to assign the most suitable candidates for a partnership. The answers or personality profiles of other members are compared and a selection is suggested to the participant. According to the online providers, this method is used to determine the highest degree of agreement.

Who Uses Online Dating Portals?

With this topic, the question arises whether online dating is only a "crutch" for all desperate and incompetent. This can be explained using three hypotheses:

The access hypothesis states that people with few face-to-face contacts tend to use online dating portals. The limited contacts can occur for various reasons, such as lack of time, few singles in the social network or no established social network.

The right-get-richer hypothesis (Valkenburg & Peter, 2007), on the other hand, assumes that people with greater self-confidence or good self-presentation have advantages in these portals.

The social compensation hypothesis describes that people with low self-esteem and social anxiety find better opportunities if they search for a partner through online dating.

The number of memberships in online dating exchanges in Germany was 11.81 million in 2015, compared to 9.7 million in 2003 (singleboersen-vergleich.de 2016). Active users, on the other hand, were 3.5 million in 2003, and 8.4 million in 2015 (singleboersen-vergleich.de, 2016).

Self-presentation on online dating portals

Dating agencies are mostly made up of sections in which you can provide both brief information and a longer description of yourself. Images can be left behind so that users can also call up a visual presentation of the other. In order to create a successful profile, it makes sense to keep a credible image of the person and the subjective ideal image in balance (Ellison, Heino & Gibbs, 2006). By being able to create a profile for yourself and design it in a way that is considered perfect, users are free to decide to what extent they distort their information. As a result, 80% of users give incorrect data regarding their weight, height or age. However, these differ only slightly from reality (Toma, Hancock & Ellison, 2008).

Success of online dating portals

According to a study carried out in 2013 in which 5000 Swiss people were asked about the results of their online contacts, 30% of acquaintances through the net end up as friendships. Meanwhile, real partnerships develop in 25%, closely followed by exclusively sexual relationships with 23%.

Another study found significant differences between couples who met online and offline. Couples who met online had a lower tendency to divorce after 7 years and said they were more satisfied with their marriage. Several variables were measured that are independent of the actual success of the dating: age, education, nationality, etc. However, it is still unclear which factors are decisive for the success of online dating for individual couples.

Advice pages

For those new to the industry there are many helpful advice pages that provide important information about what is on offer on the Internet as well as the pros and cons. The most important online dating agencies in terms of price, user friendliness, etc. are compared according to various criteria. Often you can also read user reviews.

With these pages it should be noted that some exchange operators pay commissions for sales that are generated through links from recommendation sites. Technically, this is possible through affiliate marketing and can easily be checked by linking the search term Affiliate to the market name. Niche exchanges are often mentioned, but alternatives that are useful and cheaper (commission-free) for the masses are not mentioned.

criticism

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The following allegations are made by users against online dating agencies:

  • Lock offers: In principle, it is possible to register with all portals free of charge. With such a user account, however, there is no or only a very limited possibility of establishing contact - these restrictions vary between the portals. With many partner suggestions, the searcher is urged to take out a paid subscription.
  • Less active profiles than advertised: Many partner exchanges also display inactive profiles or profiles of members who have not taken out a paid subscription and thus cannot answer contact inquiries. However, the large number of registered partner seekers is advertised.
  • Conflict of interest: From an economic point of view, the dating agency is more useful to a customer, the longer he stays single and uses the company's services for a fee. This could lead a provider to purposely provide unsuitable or even fictitious contacts in order to keep the person looking for contact as a customer for longer. Such manipulation would not be detectable.
  • Lure contacts: New members are lured into a subscription by fictitious contact requests (so-called wrestlers) or are persuaded to extend the expiring subscription, after which the contact is broken off.
  • Censorship allegation: Free texts in the self-presentation are usually only released after they have been viewed by employees of the operator portal. Mails between members within the portal are delivered with a time delay and are checked for certain character strings in order to prevent members with limited contact functionality from being able to provide the other party with a telephone number or e-mail address.
  • Useless partner suggestions: New members in particular are overwhelmed with partner suggestions that the system has selected for them. Often these are inactive profiles or non-subscribers with no contact option. This should give the person being sought the impression that he / she is interesting and sought after and that the system is working for him / her.
  • Text modules instead of scientific reports: After registering, those looking for a partner receive a so-called scientific report, which reads like a string of well-meaning and optimistic text modules and promises success in finding a partner in this portal.
  • Data protection and measures against internet stalking: Member data will be passed on to third parties without expressly indicating it beforehand. With some online dating agencies there is no way to prevent unwanted contacts.

Single exchanges and agencies for casual sex are also taken into account in market research. The following graphic distinguishes between the categories " romantic ", " friendship " (friendly) and " sexual relationship ", shows the individual views of the web offers and four evaluation levels (excellent, good, unsatisfactory, poor):

On line dating services in Germany in June 2014 Monthly Unique Visitors (Source: Alexa.com) Trustworthiness * shown in brackets (Source: MyWOT.com)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.computerbild.de/artikel/cb-Heft-Service-zum-Heft-Test-Singleboersen-Anbieter-unsicherheit-5170962.html
  2. ↑ PDF at media.computerbild.de
  3. ↑ a b c Catalina Toma: Online dating . ( academia.edu [accessed January 24, 2018]).
  4. ↑ Stephan Maaß: iLove. In: welt.de . July 4, 2010, accessed October 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ http://www.deutsche-startups.de/2010/03/31/ex-parship-chef-arndt-roller-baut-casual-dating-dienst-auf/
  6. ↑ https://www.christliche-partnersuche.de/
  7. ↑ http://www.jewish-singles.de/
  8. ↑ https://www.muslimlife.eu/
  9. ↑ Valkenburg, PM, & Peter, J .: Preadolescents 'and adolescents' online communication and their closeness to friends . tape 43 , no. 2 . Developmental psychology, 2007, p. 267 .
  10. ↑ Henning Wiechers: Singlebörsen -vergleich.de Number of memberships at online dating exchanges in Germany from 2003 to 2015 (in millions). In: singleboersen-vergleich.de. singleboersen-vergleich.de, March 3, 2018, accessed on January 31, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Henning Wiechers: Singleboersen-Vergleich.de Number of active users of online dating exchanges from 2003 to 2015 (in millions). In: www.singleboersen-vergleich.de. Singleboersen-vergleich.de, March 3, 2018, accessed on January 31, 2018 .
  12. ↑ Catalina Toma: Online dating . ( academia.edu [accessed January 31, 2019]).
  13. ↑ Switzerland - Consequences of Internet acquaintances from online dating portals 2013 | Survey. Accessed January 31, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Tyler J. VanderWeele, Elizabeth L. Ogburn, Gian C. Gonzaga, Stephanie Cacioppo, John T. Cacioppo: Marital satisfaction and break-ups differentiate across on-line and off-line meeting venues . In: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . tape 110 , no. 25 , June 18, 2013, ISSN  0027-8424 , p. 10135-10140 , doi : 10.1073 / pnas.1222447110 , PMID 23733955 ( pnas.org [accessed January 31, 2019]).
  15. ↑ Risks and dangers of online dating. Retrieved August 25, 2019 .