The stigma of online dating has been slowly lifting, due in large part to the rise of social networking. Though the majority of marriages still meet through more traditional means, nearly everyone on the Web has met someone or made a friend online. This has helped decrease the shame of meeting a potential spouse or partner on the Web by showing the value of the Web as a tool for introducing similar people.
However, in a strange way, online dating has come full circle, back to the personal ads which preceded it. Currently, sites such as Craigslist are among the most popular for posting online personal ads due to their popularity, anonymity and ease of use. Where an online dating site may require one post an extended profile, upload several images and answer a questionairre, one can post an ad to Craigslist in a matter of minutes and receive emails almost instantly.
This convenience and anonymity allows individuals to toy with online dating without having to risk co-workers or friends knowing what they are doing.
At the same time, the rapid growth of both Facebook and Myspace, as well as the applications built around them, only serve to centralize most introductions on the Web, including romantic ones. In an era where almost everyone has at least one social networking profile, and many have multiple, searching for a partner via those services is becoming more and more attractive, especially since there is no stigma and no need to set up a new account.
In the face of this, it seems that it is the niche sites that are poised to thrive. They provide a concentration of desirable candidates that Facebook nor Craigslist can provide and may be worth the extra trip and the extra money for those that fit the description.
That being said, general interest dating sites such as Match.com and free ones such as PlentyOfFish are still thriving on the Web. Alexa lists both sites well within the top 500 on the Web.
Still, given the popularity of social networking and online classified sites, it appears that the general dating site, for many, has been replaced by Facebook, Myspace or a different social networking site.