A Brief History of Online Dating
A Brief History of Online Dating
Technology-assisted dating,
along with dating websites and apps,
have changed relationship dynamics
and the way people search
for a partner.
1960s
Since 1959, when Jim Harvey and Phil Fialer lauched Happy Families Planning Services using a questionnaire and an IBM computer to match men and women for a class project at Stanford, other computer-assisted matching initiatives have appeared.
In 1965, Jeff Tarr and Vaughan Morrill at Harvard launched Operation Match using a questionnaire and a IBM computer to match students, charging a $3 fee for submitting a questionnaire.
Six months after the launch, 90.000 Operation Match questionnaires had been received, making $270,000 in gross profits (about $1.8 million in 2014's dollars).
At the same period, magazine's personal ads make a comeback.
1990s
The creation of internet provides a new venue for magazine's personal ads.
In 1995, Match.com launches, Its popularity makes it become known as the first Online Dating website (but not really).
In 1998, Online Dating is portrayed by Hollywood. With big stars Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, 'You've Got Mail' produced a positive change on how online matching was perceived.
2000s
Big names like eharmony and OkCupid appear, with a focus on their psychology based questionnaires.
Until then, programmers wrote questionnaires themselves, based on questions they wanted answered by possible matches.
In 2007, iPhone and smartphones brought the mobile app option to the dating game, with millions of downloads on Google Play and iTunes.
2010s
In 2012, Tinder introduces the Swiping, speeding up the search for matches process.
The location-based search, though not a novelty, became widepread due to real time updating.