Millennials feed dating app craze

Updated: 2014-05-22 11:35

By Barbara Ortutay (China Daily)

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Millennials feed dating app craze

Easy Talk: What is your favorite app?

Millennials feed dating app craze

Am I addicted to smartphone? 

The crowd trends slightly younger, with the largest group of users between 25 and 44.Clearly, many people have grown comfortable with online dating just as they have with shopping and banking.

Cue the cries of "the lost art of courtship" and the "rise of hookup culture" from older generations, who harbor selective memories of the more analog hookup culture of their youth.

"There is a general digital fear," says Glenn Platt, professor of interactive media studies at Miami University. "People are happy to giggle and watch Barney in How I Met Your Mother hook up with people based on looks. But somehow taking that same behavior and placing it in a digital context has a stigma attached to it. Even though in that context you are more likely to get a better match, more information, a person's real name."

Despite the growing acceptance, the online and app-based dating market is small. Research firm IBIS World estimates that the dating services industry will hit $2.2 billion in revenue this year. Internet conglomerate IAC/InteractiveCorp has the biggest chunk of the market with a 27 percent share.

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