Since the number of people relying on dating online constantly grows, the process of online dating gets studied more and more. Here are some results from the recent studies (according to the mental_floss journal).
1. 81% of people lie about their height, weight, or age in their online dating profiles.
According to a study conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, women tended to claim that they were 8.5 pounds lighter in their online profiles than their actual weight. Men lied by less—only two pounds—but rounded up their height by a half inch more often. People lied the least when it came to age.
2. People who have the word “love” in their profiles are more likely to find love.
One of the studies showed that users of online dating sites who have used the word “love” in their profiles more were more successful in finding it, the researchers also discovered that men benefited from using the words “heart,” “children,” “romantic,” and “relationship.”
3. Men spend 50% less time reading online dating profiles than women.
The research company AnswerLab conducted a study in which they recorded the eye movements of subjects who were reading online dating profiles from 2 dating sites. As it happens, men spend 65% more time looking at the pictures in the profile than women do.
4. Race and class are the most important factors to online daters.
One experiment showed that when someone viewed the person in the online profile picture as “working-class,” they would swipe “yes” 13% of the time. But, when they considered the person “middle-class,” they swiped “yes” between 36 and 39% of the time. The study also found that people preferred a potential partner to be of mixed or ambiguous race instead of a blatantly different race than their own.
Another recent study showed that the majority of heterosexuals on dating sites did contact people of another race or at least answer messages from them.
5. The algorithms can’t predict whether two people are compatible.
The dating sites wouldn’t share their specific algorithms with the researchers, but the U.S. psychology professors stated that the sites couldn’t predict whether a relationship would last just because two people had similar interests and personalities.
6. One-third of online daters never go on dates with people they meet online.
This surprising statistic comes from a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. Even more surprising, this is actually a significantly lower number than it used to be. In 2005, over half of people with online dating profiles never went on an in-person date with someone they had met on the site.
7. 30% of women consult with a friend about their profile. Only 16% of men do.
This accounts for a total of 22% of people with online dating profiles who ask a friend “to help them create or review their profile,” according to the Pew Research Center.
8. Couples who meet online are less likely to divorce.
Obviously this phenomenon needs to be studied a little more, but one of the studies claims that couples who met online have a 6% separation and divorce rate whereas couples who met offline have an 8% rate.
9. Online dating saves people $6400.
If you believe that people do marry sooner when they use online dating, then you can also believe that online dating saves you money. A group of researchers calculated that couples who meet online get married after 18.5 months, on average. Couples who don’t meet online, on the other hand, wait an average of 42 months before marrying. Researchers factored in $130 per week for dates, making total cost $23,660 versus $12,803. If the pair is splitting bills, that’s around $6400 each saved before marriage.