Question

CASE STUDY: Write an essay on the following:(1,000 or less words)•Discuss your thoughts on the Age of Online Dating. How has this phenomenon affected the communication practices between individuals and what are some of the marketing drawbacks and benefits of this phenomenon ? CITE ALL SOURCES

Answer 1

More than 17% marriages and 20% relationships across the globe start through online dating. As per the Statistic Brain Research Institute, 1 in 5 relationships and over 1 in 6 marriages begin on the internet.

This statistic clearly indicates the rise of the online dating phenomenon which has been particularly significant in the past couple of years. More and more singles (irrespective of age groups) are gravitating towards the world of online dating. And companies have jumped at the opportunity. There is a wide array of choices for anyone looking to explore this world. The first online dating service (www.Match.com) was created in 1995 and, as of 2002, has had 26.6 million people registered. And this is just one name in a list which is growing rapidly. Some names that immediately come to mind are Tinder, Bumble, Happn, OKCupid, Hinge, etc. Swiping profiles on dating sites has become more like a habit for youngsters these days. Some would even go to the extent of calling it an addiction of sorts.

Gone are the days of meeting someone new in a social gathering, getting to know them over multiple landline phone-calls and a few in-person meetings. Some would argue that falling in love has lost its charm with the rise of such dating apps which take the human touch out of the early phases of knowing another person. The level of intimacy that is developed through unfolding another person’s psyche one page at a time is lost between swiping profiles left and right.

But the fact remains - dating sites are here to stay. For the generation that is addicted to screens and cannot move one step without looking into their smart phones, tablets or laptops, dating sites seem like a step closer to human interaction in a world which is becoming more and more virtual. And for marketing firms, this wave of dating sites brings in a hoard of business opportunities. Keeping users engaged and stopping them from switching to another competitor app is a challenge that most dating app companies have risen to and embraced. More and more budgets are being allocated for marketing these apps to the right audiences.

On the flip side, there is a section of people who are reverting to the old-school charm of meeting someone through physical contact and not digitally. This poses a threat to dating app providers which may seem small and insignificant now, but which has the potential to grow manifold. Increasing number of users are getting tired of too many matches that never materialize into anything substantial.

As companies continue to struggle for ways to reverse the trend of “free” casual dating apps and fail to deliver, it is naturally evident that the casual and free style of dating apps will be expiring sooner than never.

A new dating app emerges almost every day, taking an attempt to solve specific issues that cater to certain groups of users. However, with the trend of dating apps that match you based on a specific similarity, most apps are nothing short of a joke or a clever icebreaker to open up conversation with someone new.

From a business side, dating apps will never be able to scale large amounts of DAU (daily active users) compared to what most of us are used to when you cut off large percentages of groups to join the user pool (loses a lot of monetization opportunities too). Unless these apps get more innovative and keep their eyes on the prize, many will most likely start drying up one by one, a process that has already begun.