There was finally a chance for me to read a book "everyone" was talking about a couple of years ago. I just read Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The only reason I bring this up is there were a few pages about online dating. Almost everything he discusses, we have posted on our site at one time or another.
Here's a rundown of what he discussed:
-Ali Hortacsu, Gunter J. Hitsch, and Dan Ariely studied the data from 30,000 people on a mainstream dating site. A major finding was that they were, "a lot richer, taller, skinnie, and better-looking than average," based on what they wrote about themselves.
-70% of women and 67% of men claimed "above average" looks.... Ever been to the DMV? Are 70% of people even remotely good looking?
-28% of women said they were blond, FAR ABOVE THE NATIONAL AVERAGE! "Dyeing, Lying, or both?"
-8% of men actually were upfront and said they were married. Only 9 of the over 500 married men in the study actually posted a picture.
-The "most certain" way to fail at online dating is not posting a picture. A man that has no picture receives, on average, 1/4th the volume as a man that does; a woman sans photo receives 1/6th the responses.
-"A low-income, poorly educated, un-happily employed, not-very-attractive, slightly overweight, and balding man who posts his photo stands a better chance of gleaning some emails than a man who says he makes $200,000 and is deadly handsome but doesn't post a photo."
-Men who say they want a long-term relationship do better than those loooking for short-term choices.
-Women that say they want something fleeting, do better than those looking long-term.
-For women, a man's income is very important. For men, a woman's income to respose is a normal curve- men don't want women that make very little or a lot.
-Women avoid laborers, actors, and students. Women prefer military men, police, firemen, lawyers, and financial executives.
-Men are looking for artists, students, musicians, veterinarians... they avoid secretaries and women in military/ law enforcement.
-What physical traits are a disadvantage for men? Being short, red hair, curly hair, & balding (shaved head is okay). Being somewhat overweight is okay. Sucks if you are balding with curly red hair!
-What physical traits are a disadvantage for women? Being overweight and having salt and pepper hair. Blond hair is very good.
On a side note, if you liked this book, check out More Sex is Safer Sex - The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics, by Steven E. Landsburg.
Happy dating!
