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Do Marriages
Really Define Online Dating Service Success?
According to Online Dating
Magazine, online daters may be misled by online dating
services that promote marriage statistics
(June 18, 2007) Online dating sites and
relationship services that define success by the number
of members getting married may be misleading the public,
according to Online
Dating Magazine, an independent
publication covering the online
dating industry.
James Houran, Ph.D., a compatibility testing
expert and a feature columnist and spokesperson for
Online Dating Magazine, says that the popular marketing
trend for dating services to emphasize marriage and
marriage sustenance are promoting unrealistic expectations
in consumers and sending the wrong message to online
daters.
“Online dating is a great innovation,” says
Dr. Houran. “But, some online dating sites actively
encourage the particular mindset that happiness is
only defined by a marriage, and I believe this promotes
premature marriages in an already divorce-saturated
society. The one question never answered by online
dating sites is ‘How many divorces are associated
with your site?’”
Dr.
Houran recently wrote a controversial editorial tackling
the subject titled “Marriages
From Online Dating Services… Enough Already!”
“The prevailing thought has always been that
marriages define success and we’re saying that’s
not the case,” says Joe Tracy, publisher of Online
Dating Magazine. “Think of it this way… if
a dating service that matches American men to Russian
women has a higher percentage of members getting married
than say, Match.com, then does that make them better
than Match.com? Of course not!”
Dr. Houran believes that the growth of unsubstantiated
compatibility tests and matching systems is harming
the industry because online daters are led to believe
that the tests scientifically work.
According
to Houran, “Soul
mate relationships are made through hard work; they
are not born. Encouraging people to rely solely on
the results of unsubstantiated compatibility tests
is a disservice, since it motivates people not to take
responsibility for that hard work. Instead, some online
dating sites make it seem very easy to find a perfect
partner.”
Online Dating Magazine believes that
there is not a solo factor in determining the success
of an online dating service. This is because every
relationship that develops from online dating is different.
The quality of each relationship is more important
than the quantity in determining its success, albeit
the marketing machines of online dating sites tend
to emphasize the number of marriages made through the
sites. And the quality of a relationship is determined
by both long-term satisfaction and stability, something
about which online dating services do not have credible
data on their members and success stories.
About Online Dating Magazine
Online
Dating Magazine is an independent online publication
for online daters and singles, with more than 50,000
regular readers. The online magazine launched in July
2003 with daily coverage of online dating news, feature
articles, columns, cartoons, interviews, advice, and
a detailed section covering STDs. Online Dating Magazine
is located at www.onlinedatingmagazine.com
More in-depth facts and statistics
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here.
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