The Price Is Wrong in Online Dating

wsj.com

8 pointsbookofjoe4 comments

Given how lonely much of the population seems to be, maybe there is actually a goldmine to be made here. I am quite surprised that 15% of Tinder's paying users are paying $30 a month for it.

Having a love life matters enough to people that some will pay a lot: consider what you could pay on dates, clothes, a fancy car to impress people, etc. but it is unclear what value they could give for that other than indicating that you really have a lot of money.

Personally it bugs me that one company owns all the major dating sites. It is a common complaint about their business model that they don’t really want you to get hitched because then they lose two users. Given the troubles people have forming relationships today you’d thing an NGO or government that cares about the future would be motivated to make a dating site that really works.

Sports is how I met my spouse, but thinking more abstractly just about any amount of "do stuff you enjoy, largely with people close by, but occasionally with people far way" ought to be a way to form relationships that doesn't involve obligatory digital intermediation.

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