Does online dating really work?

Alright. I saved one of the biggest questions of online dating for my last post. Does it really work? Can you really form a love connection with someone because you scanned their profile and then chatted online for a while? The answer would seem to be yes. The fact of the matter is that online dating can easily be as successful, if not more successful than traditional dating. There are more fish, and more easily accessible fish it would seem, in the online pool. It turns out that plenty of people that use online dating sites are even ending up getting married. Now, I wasn't really able to find any research on whether the divorce rates of couples who met online were higher or lower than those who met other ways, but I would imagine the rates would be at least roughly the same. I think most of the stigma surrounding online dating has to do with extreme cases of people lying about their identities and also with people not wanting to be seen as a "desperate singleton". Now, I definitely got some messages from some weirdos on my profile, but there were also guys who seemed genuine and actually just interested in getting to know some people. I think there probably would have been even more of those guys had I been actively seeking out other users or even using a site that cost money.

Can genes determine your love match?

There is apparently an online dating website in the works that uses blood samples of its' users to make compatible matches. The theory is that people are attracted to others with immune systems most opposite of their own. There was a study done where women were asked to smell the worn t-shirts of several anonymous guys and rate them on attractiveness. It was found that women were most attracted to the scent of the men with immune systems most different from theirs. This could be because we are wired to reproduce with people that will produce an offspring with the most diverse immune system, thus making it immune to more diseases. To me, this sounds a little far fetched. I mean sure, maybe biologically they will be the most compatible, but that has absolutely nothing to do with how compatible their personalities will be. I do think that this would be a great method to use with people looking for egg or sperm donors. I really don't think that true love can be boiled down to a science. What do you think?

Does love have a price?

I've been doing some more research on online dating and it's surprising to me how much money people are willing to put in to it. In 2007 the online dating industry took in something like 900 million dollars. That's a lot of cash. I suppose people are willing to shell out big bucks if they think they're going to find their soul-mates as a result of it. But there's a rising market of free dating websites that are making online dating even more accessible. The biggest problem with these is that there are more people on the well established dating sites that people pay to use, so you are more likely to find a compatible match simply because of sheer numbers. However, as the free sites begin to rise in popularity, some theorists are saying that online dating sites that charge may become extinct altogether. What do you think? How much would you pay if you thought it could mean meeting your true love?

Really? Really!?

So, following up on my post about people lying online, I have now experienced this firsthand. Yes, I know, I know. I lied on my own online dating profile. But that was for the purpose of research!! I highly doubt that any of these guys messaging me are doing this online dating thing for research, but hey, you never know. Who am I to judge? Anyways, the point of this blog post is to inform you all about a little fiasco that occurred the other day. It went a little something like this:

Big Lying Liar Face: Hey! How's it going? You look really cool, and you're definitely cute. I see that you like True Blood! Me too! We should get together and watch sometime.

Me: Oh, yeah, maybe. That's cool that you like True Blood. Who's your favorite character?

Big Lying Liar Face: Oh, I really like Sam because I think it's super cool that he's a werewolf. That would be so cool.

Me *in my head, since I did not message him again*: NO. YOU LIE. You know how I know? Because Sam is NOT A WEREWOLF.

So, the studies don't lie. People are big. lying. liar faces.