In 1995, Match.com forever changed the way we meet and connect.
Electic Classifieds launched Match on April 21, 1995. By October 1996, membership reached 100,000 singles. A year later, 150 couples who met on Match had walked down the aisle together.
That was just the beginning. Things exploded at the turn of the century, when Match partnered with AOL and MSN to bring online dating to the general public. Match launched internationally in 2002 and introduced its mobile service in 2003. By 2010, Match had become responsible for more dates, relationships, and marriages than any other dating site.
Now, in 2015, Match is celebrating two decades as the world's largest dating service. The site is responsible for over 10 million relationships in the US alone, and has created more than a quarter of a billion matches overall.
In honor of Match.com's 20th birthday, let's take a look back on some of the ways online dating and romance have changed over the years.
- The stigma is mostly gone. When Pew Research Center studied online dating habits[*1] in 2005, most Americans were skeptical. By 2013, more than half agreed with the statement “Online dating is a good way to meet people.” Some still consider online dating a desperate tactic, but they are in a minority that shrinks more and more with each passing year.
- 1 in 5 adults ages 25-34 have tried online dating. Online dating is most popular amongst singles in their mid-20s through mid-40s, but 45-54 year olds are just as likely to date online as 18-24 year olds. Some suggest that online dating is particularly useful for older singles, who tend to have a more limited number of available partners in their immediate social cirlces.
- More singles are open to meeting someone from an online dating site. When Pew Research Center conducted a survey in 2005, they found that 43% of online daters met someone in person after initially being introduced on a dating site. In 2013, that number increased to 66%. But that still means 1/3 of online daters have never met up with someone in real life.
- Online dating is a joint effort. Many singles enlist friends to help them put their best foot forward. Around 22% say they've asked someone to help create or review their profile. Women are especially likely to ask friends for assistance – 30% have sought profile help, compared to 16% of men.
- 5% of coupled up Americans say they met their significant other online. As accepted as online dating now is, the majority of Americans are still meeting offline. But given the steady popularity of online dating sites and the rapid explosion of mobile dating apps, that number is bound to change.
Here's to another 20 years of modernizing romance, Match! For more information please read our Match.com review.