Who uses online dating sites? Who are they looking for? What are they looking for? Is everyone looking for love? The common themes for everyone using online dating sites are companionship, friendship, romance, sex, and lasting relationships. To a degree what one looks for online depends upon age.

Younger people (teens to late twenties) commonly use online dating as an extension of their normal social life. This has a lot to do with this age group being familiar with and comfortable with the electronic tools of the age. Many younger people are seeking enjoyment and often do not start out looking for a lasting relationship. They want friends, companions, lovers, and a good time. This is what an older generation called “playing the field” and in the internet age the field extends into cyberspace. With time this generation looks for lasting relationships as well.

People in their thirties and forties are often starting over. They are commonly divorced, often raising children on their own. For this group the internet provides an excellent means for the too busy person to meet other people. This group is often very sure about what traits they do not want in a friend, companion, lover, or lifetime soul mate. Online dating sites provide this group with a useful means of sorting out rejecting the rejects without the trouble of a face to face date. This group is often “once bitten and twice shy.” Unfortunately this means that many in their thirties and forties are afraid of starting over again and use the internet more as a means of avoiding relationships than as a means of finding them. Who uses online dating sites in this group? Many do. It is simply that some want to find a mate and others might just be hiding.

Who uses online dating sites among the fifty and older set? Lots of people do. It is not only the young that have embraced the internet although this group typically needs bifocals to type with two thumbs on their Blackberry. For those willing to embrace the technology and the opportunity online dating can help the mature adult find a friend, companion, or lover after they have lost a spouse or long term friend. For those who have not been in the dating “game” for a generation or more there can be a sense of safety in first communicating by email and then by chat messages. Although this age group is looking for love and companionship it is a more than generation wiser and more mature than younger online dating site users. This is reflected in the fact that these folks are often looking for friendship, kindness, reliability, and other lasting qualities.

But, no matter who uses online dating sites the general results are the same. People search for someone compatible. People meet. They develop relationships or they start out all over again. The use of the internet gives everyone more options to socialize and find the right person. So, who uses online dating sites? Pretty much everyone does.