Dating, Russian women in Odessa.

Dating systems can be systematic and organized ways to improve matchmaking by using rules or technology. The meeting can be
in-person or live as well as separated by time or space such as by telephone or email or chat-based. The purpose of the meeting is for
the two persons to decide whether to go on a date in the future.

Speed dating. These organized matchmaking events have multiple single persons meet one-on-one in brief timed sessions so that
singles can assess further whether to have subsequent dates. An example is meeting perhaps twenty potential partners in a bar with brief
interviews between each possible couple, perhaps lasting three minutes in length, and shuffling partners. In Shanghai, one event featured
eight-minute one-on-one meetings in which participants were pre-screened by age and education and career, and which costs 50 yuan
($6 USD) per participant; participants are asked not to reveal contact information during the brief meeting with the other person, but
rather place names in cards for organizers to arrange subsequent dates. Advantages of speed dating: efficiency; "avoids an
embarrassing disaster date"; cost-effective; way to make friends. Disadvantages: it can turn into a beauty contest with only a few
good-looking participants getting most offers, while less attractive peers received few or no offers; critics suggest that the format
prevents factors such as personality and intelligence from emerging, particularly in large groups with extra-brief meeting times.
(Speed dating is) a fast and comfortable way to meet people. It helps enlarge my social contacts. I don't care if I can't find a girlfriend
there. I just want to try my luck, and if she is there, then that will be a big bonus. -- Huang Xiao, salesman, age 27

Video dating systems of the 1980s and 1990s especially, where customers gave a performance on (typically VHS) video, which was
viewable by other customers, usually in private, in the same facility. Some services would record and play back videos for men and
women on alternate days to minimize the chance that customers would meet each other on the street.

Phone dating systems of about the same vintage, where customers call a common voice mail or phone-chat server at a common local
phone number, and are connected with other (reputed) singles, and typically charged by the minute as if it were a long-distance call
(often a very expensive one). A key problem of such systems was that they were hard to differentiate from a phone porn service or
"phone sex" where female operators are paid to arouse male customers and have no intention of ever dating them.

Computers as matchmakers

Software entrepreneur Gary Robinson developed a now-defunct online dating service called 212-Romance in New York City in the 1980s
which used complex computer algorithms to guess who'd like who.

Computer dating systems of later 20th century, especially popular in the 1960s and 1970s, before the rise of sophisticated phone and
computer systems, gave customers forms that they filled out with important tolerances and preferences, which were "matched by
computer" to determine "compatibility" of the two customers. The history of dating systems is closely tied to the history of technologies
that support them. The first large-scale computer dating system, The Scientific Marriage Foundation, was established in 1957 by Dr.
George W. Crane. In this system, forms that applicants filled out were processed by an early IBM card sorting machine. In the early
1980s in New York City, software developer Gary Robinson developed a now–defunct dating service called 212-Romance which used
computer algorithms to match singles romantically, using a voice–mail based interface backed by community-based automated
recommendations enhanced by collaborative filtering technologies. Compatibility algorithms and matching software are becoming
increasingly sophisticated, according to one report.

Online dating services are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. They charge a fee to enable a user to post a profile of himself or
herself, perhaps using video or still images as well as descriptive data and personal preferences for dating, such as age range, hobbies,
and so forth. One report suggests that online dating businesses are thriving financially, with growth in members, service offerings,
membership fees and with many users renewing their accounts, although the overall share of Internet traffic using online dating services
in the U.S. has declined somewhat, from 2003 (21% of all Internet users) to 2006 (10%), and that dating sites must work to convince
users that they're safe places having quality members, according to Jupiter Research. While online dating has become more accepted, it
retains a slight negative stigma, according to one writer. There is widespread evidence that online dating has increased rapidly and is
becoming "mainstream" with new websites appearing regularly. One study suggested that 18% of single persons had used the Internet
for dating purposes. Reports vary about the effectiveness of dating web sites to result in marriages or long–term relationships. Pew
research, based on a 2005 survey of 3,215 adults, estimated that three million Americans had entered into long-term relationships or
marriage as a result of meeting on a dating web site. While sites have touted marriage rates from 10% to 25%, sociologists and
marriage researchers are highly skeptical that valid statistics underlie any such claims. The Pew study (see table) suggested the Internet
was becoming increasingly prominent and accepted as a way to meet people for dates, although there were cautions about deception,
the risk of violence, and some concerns about stigmas. The report suggested most people had positive experiences with online dating
websites and felt they were excellent ways to meet more people. Online daters tend to be more liberal social attitudes compared to the
general population. In India, parents sometimes participate in websites designed to match couples. Some online dating sites can organize
double dates or group dates. Research from Berkeley suggests there's a dropoff in interest after online daters meet face–to–face. It's a
lean medium not offering standard cues such as tone of voice, gestures, and facial expressions. There is substantial data about online
dating habits; for example, researchers believe that "the likelihood of a reply to a message sent by one online dater to another drops
roughly 0.7 percent with every day that goes by". Psychologist Lindsay Shaw Taylor found that even though people said they'd be willing
to date someone of a different race, that people tend to choose dates similar to themselves.