How Online Dating Sites Work

I found an article that looks at the technology used to make some of the popular online dating services like Yahoo Personals, eHarmony, PerfectMatch and Match.com give members a quick and smooth experience.

These online dating services run on a curious mix of technology, science (some say pseudoscience), alchemy and marketing. Under the covers, they combine large databases with business intelligence, psychological profiling, matching algorithms and a variety of communications technologies ... to match up lonely singles -- and to convert one-time visitors into paying monthly subscribers.

The author first looks at the business models behind online dating, with the main choices being subscription based memberships and advertising supported. He then lists 4 steps which make a successful dating site, not only in terms of revenue for the owners but for the actual members of the site as well.

1. A perfect match, served up fast - This refers to the hardware technology behind the scenes that has to deal with millions of member records and the processing power needed to calculate matches for everyone.
2. From "just looking" to "paying customer" - The different marketing techniques used to convert a free member to a paid member.
3. Make a high-quality connection - Connecting members through communication.
4. Weeding out cheats, scammers and married guys - Including automated and manual approaches.

The last thing the article tackles is the question: Does online dating sites work?. Basically it is unknown if online dating produces better long term matches than meeting single people in more traditional ways. What online dating does do, is it allows you to easily meet other single people online, in the comforts of your home.