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Finding that special someone is never an easy task.
Some prefer meeting their prospects at a social location, such as a bar or coffee house, while others take quite the different approach: meeting individuals through online services.
Since the mid-90s, these sites have gained in popularity among singles and more of these types of services have emerged on the Internet. But one must know which site is more appropriate to use to better his or her chances of finding someone they are compatible with.
The highly commercialized eHarmony, Match.com and perfectmatch.com from "Must Love Dogs" fame, are three of the major sites that seem to be more of the generalized service that is open to all demographics. Whereas several other services are more specified and drawn to a group, such as the new FarmersOnly.com, appealing to those who are more rurally adequate.
Perfectmatch.com is another service that's drawn to specific group. According to Toni Lafrate from Perfectmatch, they are "a leading online dating and relationship service that targets the 30 to 55 year-old market."
With Perfectmatch.com's exclusive focus on long-term relationships, it attracts a much older, more mature demographic than casual dating sites," Lafrate said. She goes on to add that their user base number has increased to 4 million.
These relationship services require the user to fill out a questionnaire about what type of person they are and what they are looking for in a mate.
Some of these questionnaires can be quite extensive such as eHarmony and Match.com - eHarmony requires the individual to fill out a 436-question relationship questionnaire. Others are relatively short and only a few pages of questions, such as FarmersOnly.com, only an eight-page questionnaire.
After filling out a profile, the service screens other profiles to make a possible connection. For most sites, filling out a profile is free of charge, but to further the search requires a payment that varies among sites. According to Match.com, this payment is equivalent to the price of a date. But are these services a popular way to meet someone and do they work?
A report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a group that studies the Internet's impact on daily life, states 11 percent of adult Internet users have gone to dating Web sites. Also, 30 million people say they know someone who has been in a long-term relationship or marriage, through online dating.
The survey also found that slightly more men are going the Internet route to find love interests than women.
Joe Zink, from eHarmony, states that their service's success can easily be measured.
"According to a 2005 Harris Interactive poll, more than 90 eHarmony members marry on average everyday as a result of being matched on the site," Zink said. "The poll indicated that over 33,000 eHarmony members married in a 12 month period."
This dating has been under some scrutiny these past couple of years. Match.com and Yahoo! Personals faced lawsuits by users of their service for creating fake profiles and setting up users on fake dates with employees.
Also, there are several other things to watch out for when using the service such as money scams, where fake users ask for money, as well as the use of private information.
Users of these services couldn't be contacted due to caution to give out personal information.
As for the commercials that appear on TV, Zink insists that they are "real eHarmony success stories that have volunteered to share their stories."
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