To everybody who has ever used an online dating service, I have a question to ask: Are you ashamed to tell your friends and family that you are using the Internet to find a date?

I approach this topic with particular curiosity because I believe many people have biases towards those who utilize online dating. Online dating is being used by a number of people who realize its advantages, but they are ashamed to tell others they are doing it.

It’s not all that unusual for couples who met online to make up a story about how they met, instead of telling the truth about meeting each other on the net. It’s easier for them to use a made up story about how they met rather than just admitting the truth. Isn’t it strange that this happens?

This might be because some people assume that the only right way to encounter other singles is via traditional channels, like church, work, social groups and friends. When someone relies on means that are not conventional, families and friends jump to the conclusion that the person has become desperate to meet someone.

There is a wide variation in the estimates of the number of  active members involved in online dating sites, because there is no uniform definition of what constitutes an active member. For the purpose of this article, we’ll define ‘active’ as a member who has checked their online dating service in the last 4 weeks.

In the US, there are an estimated twenty million active online dating accounts, however we will work with half that number — or ten million people. There are 300 million people in the United States, which means one out of every 30 United States citizens, or 3.3% of them, use online dating. That doesn’t seem like a very high percentage.

Perhaps a more accurate number of singles using online dating can be achieved by adjusting the number. After a fast search in Wikipedia, we realize that close to 25% of the population (or 75 million people) are under 18 years old. If we discount those under 18 from our initial selection of 300 million, this leaves a group of 225 million adults.

Because married couples comprise of about 25% of the population, they need to be excluded from our figures too. After taking these figures into account, the pool of 225 million adults is reduced to 150 million eligible singles.

That number indicates an estimated 10 million people are active on a dating site, which means that one out of every 15 single people in the U.S is using an Internet dating service.

The amount of people who are members of online dating sites has grown every single year, so we can assume that the ratio is going to decrease as time goes by. Remember, my figures were estimated conservatively, using the figure of 10 million online users today.

The new growing trend is online dating. It may seem impossible to believe, but tens of thousands of individuals are logging onto the Internet for the first time in their lives every single day. The Internet marketplace continues to enjoy rapid and stable growth.

I think that the stigma of finding a date on the Internet will largely disappear during the next few years. It’s imperative that those who have found love and success through the online dating share their stories with friends and family.  This ‘word of mouth’ advertising not only benefits the company that you enjoyed using, but also any friends you have that might enjoy it as well.

It’s hard to meet people, and it would be unwise not to consider all the alternatives at your disposal. We can diminish the stigma and shame associated with online dating more rapidly by emphasizing its virtues in our conversations.