Online Dating

About

Online Dating is the practice of using web-based services or mobile applications to discover and interact with potential romantic partners, and in most cases, to the end of arranging a date in real life. In addition, many online dating sites and apps offer algorithm-based matchmaking services for users to easily find compatible individuals based on a wide range of criteria, including age, gender, geographical location and personal interests.

Origin

In 1993, the first Internet dating site Match.com^[1] was founded by entrepreneurs Gary Kremen and Peng T. Ong, who aimed to create a proof-of-concept for electronic classified advertising systems. In 1995, the site was launched as a free beta service, serving as a matchmaker for users who created a profile on the site containing pictures and personal information about themselves.

Spread

OKCupid

On March 4th, 2004, the founders of the literary website TheSpark launched the dating site OKCupid, which pairs registered members based on their compatibility score determined through a series of survey questions. On August 29th, 2011, an article published in August of 2011 to the tech news blog Gizmodo, which featured an expose by intern Alyssa Bereznak about an OkCupid date with the world champion Magic: The Gathering player Jon Finkel. In the article, Bereznak insulted Finkel for playing the card game and revealed that she would not have dated him if she were aware of the hobby beforehand. After the story was submitted to Reddit, Bereznak was inundated with attacks from various Redditors and Finkel participated in an “ask me anything” thread on the social news website.

In 2012, the papapaka OKCupid gained online notoriety as “Squart Guy” for his explicit sexual fantasy descriptions, combined with numerous spelling and grammatical errors (shown below, left). On July 24th, the Tumblr blog “Fedoras of OKCupid” was launched, which quickly gained traction for openly shaming men who wear fedoras in their dating site profile pictures (shown below, right).

Grindr

On March 26th, 2009, the mobile dating and social networking application Grindr was launched, which serves as a matchmaker for gay and bisexual users within close proximity to one another.

Dating Site Murderer

On March 21st, 2011, Redditor spawn02000 posted a picture of himself to the /r/WTF subreddit, titled “I uploaded my picture to a dating site… So far no hits… :(” The photo was subsequently used by other Redditors to create the Dating Site Murderer advice animal series, which features a top caption implying a murderous intent, followed by an innocuous or sweet bottom line.

Miss Travel

On April 10th, 2012, the dating website Miss Travel was created by founder and CEO Brandon Wade, which pairs wealthy men with attractive women who wish to travel for free. The website subsequently sparked many online discussions over its legality and appropriateness.

Tinder

In September 2012, the Tinder mobile dating application was launched on Apple iOS devices for students at the University of Southern California, the University of California at Los Angeles and select colleges in Texas and Boston. The app serves as a matchmaker for users within close proximity based on their preferences and has since rolled out for worldwide use.

Creepy White Guys

On February 2nd, 2013, the anonymous blog Creepy White Guys was created on Tumblr, which features politically incorrect, racially insensitive or otherwise off-putting pick up lines sent from Caucasian men to Asian women on online dating and social networking sites.

Bye Felipe

On October 14th, 2014, the “Bye Felipe” Instagram feed was launched by Los Angeles resident Alexandra Tweten to highlight screenshots of abusive or hostile responses to rejection sent by men on various online dating sites.

Search Interest

External References