We’ve been seeing a surge of interest already this year, with more singletons than ever looking to online dating. For many people it has been a result of New Year’s resolutions. January has traditionally been a time when many more people decide that enough is enough and start to look for a new partner. Tired of being alone, or finally getting back to their feet after the end of a previous relationship, people are turning to the convenience of online dating to take back control of their love lives.
The other pressure seems to have come from being nagged by relatives. Those family get-togethers are often a hot house of irritating questions from all sides. Whether its questions from precocious small children, doting parents or teasing from siblings, it can all be too much. Some people turn to dating in the New Year simply to silence the nagging. The return to work after the holiday season can be as much a relief for getting away from Grandma and her probing as anything else for harassed singletons.
With an estimated one in twenty Australians reported to have used some form of online dating to meet potential matches, that initial surge is then caught up with the joys of Valentine’s Day, which is just around the corner.
For some it’s a chance to celebrate with new partners for the first time, while for many more it can be seen as a rallying cry to get off their backsides and jump in. With so many Australians choosing experiences such as dining at expensive restaurants this year, it’s given even more impetus to the dating scene.
We’re finding that people are looking for new experiences and slightly unusual dating options this year. It’s partly driven by the sense of adventure so key a part of our national identity, but also as a result of changing economic fortunes.
We think these changing habits and the growing familiarity of online dating have come about at the right time to fuel each other. We’re finding that more people of all ages and situations are discovering the advantages of our site. In particular they’re finding the convenience and speed of finding potential matches a huge plus.
Is this the busiest year for online dating yet? We hope so, if these first couple of months are anything to go by. Make the most of the New Year and Valentine surge, and see who you could be hooking up with this year.