Online dating in the US--is it past peak?

 Here's a 2022 survey I just came across from Pew Research. It caught my eye because it reports a much lower percentage of life partners arising from dating sites than were found in surveys by sociologists in 2009 and 2017.

From Looking for Love to Swiping the Field: Online Dating in the U.S.
Tinder is the most widely used dating platform in the U.S. About half of those who have used dating sites or apps have had positive experiences, and some have met their partners on one. But safety and harassment remain issues
By Colleen McClain and  Risa Gelles-Watnick 

 

 

 

"One-in-ten adults who are partnered – that is, they are married, living with a partner or in a committed romantic relationship – say they met this person on a dating site or app. The share rises to 20% of partnered adults under 30 who say online dating brought them together; about a quarter of LGB partnered adults say the same."

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Those numbers of partnerships seem a lot lower than earlier numbers I recounted in this post:

Friday, August 9, 2019  Coupling up with the help of the internet

 

 

The science and politics (and lawfare) of abortion pills with other uses in reproductive healthcare

Two recent articles shed some light on how the market for reproductive healthcare is evolving.

 Dr. Jessica Chen writes "I dispensed mifepristone every day in the clinic last week, and not once was it for abortion."  Instead it was to help patients who had suffered a miscarriage, and were still carrying a dead fetus.  

The US is expecting legal wrangling over whether mifepristone can be prescribed by telehealth providers, to women in states that forbid abortion.  Some of the arguments may depend on whether it is an "abortion pill," or a drug with multiple uses in reproductive healthcare.

The Clinical Indications for Mifepristone Go Beyond Abortion Jessica Chen, MD, JAMA
Published Online: August 28, 2025  doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.13376

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Considering Telehealth Across State Lines in Uncertain Times, by Nicole Huberfeld, JD1; Katharine O. White, MD, MPH2; Rachel Cannon, MD, MSc2, JAMA Published Online: August 11, 2025 doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.12122

"Since the US Supreme Court decided in 2022 that abortion was no longer protected as part of the constitutional right to privacy, state lawmakers have been empowered by the court leaving abortion policy “to the people and their elected representatives.”1 This phrase has fostered deep conflicts between state laws relating to abortion and laws relating to other health care for people of reproductive age, and it has created new risks for physicians who provide care to patients across state lines."

Congestion in online labor markets: too many applications

 As online job ads make it easier to submit chatbot-assisted applications, companies are becoming overwhelmed.

The WSJ has this story:

How to Navigate the Jungle of Online Job Postings
Companies are rethinking online job applications, seeking quality over quantity  By Callum Borchers

"You probably haven’t looked for a job in a newspaper’s classified pages since the Bush administration—possibly the first one. It could be worth reviving this old-school strategy because many of the listings offer a way to bypass those dreaded online application portals.

...

"Companies fed up with the low-quality, sometimes fraudulent submissions that flood applicant-tracking systems are reaching back in time for hard-to-hack recruiting methods. Classified ads are just one tack.

"Others include: leaning harder on references; making application forms so cumbersome that only serious candidates will complete them; and posting openings on niche job boards instead of the most popular ones."

Tea and Hacking: Privacy and dating

 Here's a modern short story about privacy, and dating.  A dating app allowed women to widely share information about men.  The app asked women to reliably identify themselves.  It was hacked...

The NYT has the story

What to Know About the Hack at Tea, an App Where Women Share Red Flags About Men. A data breach exposed photos and ID cards of women who signed up for a fast-growing app for women to share details of men they might date.  By Isabella Kwai

 "A fast-growing app for women was hacked after it shot to the top of app download charts and kicked off heated debates about women’s safety and dating.

"The app, Tea Dating Advice, allowed women worried about their safety to share information about men they might date. Its premise was immediately polarizing: Some praised it as a useful way to warn women about dangerous men, while others called it divisive and a violation of men’s privacy.

"On Friday, Tea said that hackers had breached a data storage system, exposing about 72,000 images, including selfies and photo identifications of its users."

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https://www.teaforwomen.com/

 "Share experiences and seek advice within a secure, anonymous platform. Tea is built on trust; screenshots are blocked and all members are verified as women"

Internet advertising: affiliate marketing scams, evolving

 Ben Edelman announces a return to his roots, detecting advertising fraud on the internet. (Remember when malware would flash unwanted pages on your browser?)

From his blog:

June 12, 2025

Advertising Fraud Detection at VPT Digital

Today I announced joining the security startup VPT Digital as Chief Scientist.  VPT operates in a space I feel I pioneered: Automated testing to find misconduct in affiliate marketing.  As early as summer 2004 (not a typo!), I was catching affiliates using adware to claim commission they hadn’t earned.  I later built automation to scale up my efforts.

Think affiliate fraud is no big deal?  I was proud to recover large amounts for my clients.  For one large client, I once proved that nine of its top ten biggest affiliates were breaking its rules – which might sound like a disaster, and in some sense it was, but ejecting the rule-breakers yielded ample funds to pay more to those who genuinely drove incremental value.  Affiliate marketing experts may also remember Shawn Hogan and Brian Dunning, who faced both criminal and civil litigation for affiliate fraud – allegations that the FBI said stemmed from reports from me.  Litigation reported that defendants collected more than $20 million in 18 months.  “No big deal,” indeed.

The web is a lot messier than when I started down this path, and tricksters use a remarkable range of methods.  Reviewing VPT’s automation, I’ve been suitably impressed.  They test a range of adware, but also cookie-stuffing, typosquatting, and more.  Of course they test Windows adware and browser plug-ins, but they and have Mac and mobile capabilities too.  They test from multiple geographies, at all times of day.  Their testing is fully automated, yielding spiffy reports in a modern dashboard – plus email alerts and API integration.  It’s all the features I used to dream of building, and then some.

I’ll be working with VPT part-time in the coming months and years to continue to hone their offerings, including making their reports even more accessible to those who don’t want to be experts at affiliate fraud.  I’ll also blog about highlights from their findings.

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Earlier:

Saturday, February 15, 2014 Ben Edelman, Internet Sheriff

and (still earlier), I may have helped secure that nickname in this post:

Friday, October 10, 2008 Online advertising--Ben Edelman

 
 

 

Tinder has plans to become less focused on hookups

 The WSJ has the story:

Tinder’s New Chief Is Out to Change Its Hookup-App Reputation. Spencer Rascoff is rethinking Match Group’s biggest app as younger online daters grow tired of swiping  By  Chip Cutter 

"Tinder’s new chief, Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff, aims to revamp the app’s image away from hookups to attract Gen Z.

"Rascoff plans to introduce new features, leverage AI, and enhance user safety to improve user experience.

"Tinder is testing a “double dating” feature and will roll it out globally this summer to create low-pressure ways for people to meet.

...

“This generation of Gen Z, 18 to 28—it’s not a hookup generation. They don’t drink as much alcohol, they don’t have as much sex,” he told investors this month. “We need to adapt our products to accept that reality.”

Matchmaking on campus with Marriage Pact

 Happy Valentine's Day:)

Here's a story from the Amherst Student (the student newspaper), about an annual event on many campuses that started at Stanford.

True Love or True Disappointment? Students Reflect on the 2024 Marriage Pact by Savita Jani and Erin Sullivan

"With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is on the brain for many Amherst students. But Cupid isn’t just around on Feb. 14 — back in September, over 1,200 Mammoths sought romance through the Marriage Pact, an online questionnaire that matches students with their most statistically compatible partner on campus.

"At Amherst, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) contracts with the Marriage Pact company, a sizable operation available at 100 schools across the country. Marriage Pact has served over 570,000 participants and made over 285,000 matches since its founding. It uses its own algorithm that takes psychology, “market design,” and linear algebra into account in order to find students their ideal match: a perfectly compatible other half whom they can one day marry (if they don’t find someone else).

"Marriage Pact also claims to address the nuances of romance by recognizing when similar values are necessary for a good match and when they aren’t. According to their website, 3-4% of Marriage Pact matches date for a year or longer. But how well has the Marriage Pact worked for Amherst students?

"To answer this question, we interviewed several Mammoths and collected responses from 54 respondents through an anonymous Google Form survey.

 

Here are my previous posts on the Marriage Pact.