Love Don't Cost A Thing

Why Recessions Push Us to Date...

Whether you are surfing online dating websites looking for love, a snuggle buddy, a free meal, or just a good old fashioned hook up, internet dating has grown rapidly due to economic recessions. You might not realize the forces that drove you there, but online dating has proven to be recession-proof.

Make no mistake about it; recession equals unemployment, and unemployment equals loneliness! “At a time when money is scarce or uncertain, when people are assessing their priorities, they don’t want to go through it alone,” said Dr. Pepper Schwartz, a professor of sociology at the University of Washington in Seattle, and the relationship expert at Perfectmatch.com, which had a 51 percent increase in new members in the fourth quarter of 2008 compared with 2007. “When you’re not sure what’s coming at you, love seems all the more important,” Dr. Schwartz said. (Ellin, A., 2009)

The first major recession to follow the 90's internet boom took place in 2000, followed by our most recent economic downturn in 2008.

In 1999, only two percent of American singles had used some form of online personals services. By 2002, right in the middle of that major recession, those numbers had grown. One in four singles were then using internet dating services in their search for a potential partner and internet dating had grown into a $304 million business. (Orr, 2004)

Fast forwarding to 2008, Match.com had its strongest fourth quarter in the last seven years. So, counting backwards to seven years ago, their last strongest fourth quarter would have been back in 2001 which, coincidentally, was during the last economic recession. During the last economic downturn, in 2001, Duane Dahl, the chief executive of Perfectmatch.com, noted that there was a spike in interest similar to what the industry is seeing now. For instance, he said, the strong third and fourth quarter results his company saw in 2008 were consistent with 2001 numbers. (Ellin, A., 2009)

Unemployment also leads to boredom for those who find themselves at home with no money and nothing to do. “During recessions people stay at home more, they don’t want to pay and go to bars. They’re going online to meet each other,” said Markus Frind, the chief executive of Plentyoffish, a free site, where visits have increased 77 percent from December 2007 to December 2008, and 32 percent over the last three months. (Ellin, A., 2009)

WORKS CITED

Ellin, Abby (2009) The Romance of Recession. Isn’t It Romantic? NYTimes.com: Fashion and Style. Retrieved on August 18, 2011 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/fashion/12dating.html

Orr, Andrea. 2004. Meeting, Mating, and Cheating: Sex, Love, and the New World of Online Dating. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Reuters.