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the popularity of social networking and online classified sites, it appears that the general dating site, for many, has been replaced by Facebook, Myspace or a different social networking site.