Online dating may not be the best way to find love

Today such help is likely to come from online methods of matchmaking But online dating according to new Northwestern University research depends largely on ineffective algorithms and profiles for finding potential love interests Mobile dating the latest iteration in digital dating however may hold promise because it brings together potential partners facetoface fast to see if quotsparksquot exist the research suggested Although the research on mobile dating is scarce Eli Finkel associate professor of psychology at Northwestern and lead author of the study is optimistic about this approach quotGPS features on smartphone apps can tell you who is nearby and willing to be browsedquot Finkel said quotWith a little bit of basic information potential daters can get together right away for a quick facetoface meetupquot Good oldfashioned facetoface contact still is paramount in finding that special someone and the faster that happens the better the research suggests In previous research Finkel and his coauthors found that ideal preferences of daters viewing online profiles fell by the wayside after inperson meetings with potential partners Finkel mapped three generations of online dating and discussed each approach The first generation in 1995 was the launch of Matchcom quotWe use the analogy that dating sites like Matchcom are like supermarkets of lovequot Finkel said Representational picture quotYou check out the wares online profiles and see what you like Upon first blush this approach seems reasonable but there are two major problems with it People really don39t learn much from a profile and people get overloaded by choicequot The second generation in 2000 marked the entry of eHarmony Sites like eHarmony market themselves less as supermarkets of love than as something akin to real estate brokers of love They use quotmatching algorithmsquot in an effort to identify which potential partners are especially compatible with a given online dater The choice issue Finkel observed is somewhat solved by the algorithm approach Only a handful of people are chosen as compatible matches quotBut there is no compelling evidence that any of these algorithms workquot he said quotLimiting the number of potential partners is only helpful if the algorithmicselection process favors compatible partners over incompatible ones which it fails to do Even if the algorithms are cutting 2000 potential partners down to five if that process is random is it really any better than strolling into the neighborhood barquot The third generation in 2008 is linked with mobile dating With the advent of smartphone apps mobile dating was launched Mobile dating39s ability to get people facetoface fast may make a big difference according to the new research quotYou have a little bit of basic informationquot Finkel said quotIs this person below threshold or above threshold for a fiveminute meetupfive minutes from now There39s no better way to figure out whether you39re compatible with somebody than talking to them over a cup of coffee or a pint of beerquot Finkel added The authors hope their report will push proprietors to build a more rigorous scientific foundation for online dating services The research will be published by Psychological Science in the Public Interest a journal of the Association for Psychological Science