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Online dating sites frequently trumpet their ability to corral the most compatible fish in your sea through sophisticated algorithms. But a psychological study released this week says that you may be better off doing it the old-fashioned way and just meeting a stranger at a bar.

A team commissioned by the Association of Psychological Science says that the algorithms employed by sites such as eHarmony, Match.com and OKCupid don’t do much much to determine whether sparks will fly when they compare people’s interests and personalities, according to a recent Reuters interview with report author Eli Finkel.

“There’s no better way to figure out whether you’re compatible with somebody than talking to them over a cup of coffee or a pint of beer,” said Finkel, an associate professor at Northwestern University.

Finkel and his team found that the massive databases of potential matches don’t reveal enough about the people behind the profiles. And the sheer volume of options can overwhelm users to the point of “shutting down” and making poor decisions because of too many choices, according to Finkel, who compared the situation to shoppers at an overstocked supermarket.

“Eighty years of relationship science has reliably shown you can’t predict whether a relationship succeeds based on information about people who are unaware of each other,” Finkel told Reuters.

The researchers did not have access to the algorithms themselves, but Finkel scoffed at the accuracy of websites’ studies of their own success.

“The assumption is that they work,” he said. “We reviewed the literature and feel safe to conclude they do not.”

Finkel and his team’s research will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest.

Do you think that online services have value in the dating game? Why or why not? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, pearleye

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The romantic relationships of active Twitter users apparently don’t last as long as the rest of the population, according to stats published by dating website OkCupid.

The site, which regularly publishes information about dating trends and statistics, has compiled a number of charts about the sexual habits of its millions of users. The website determines dating compatibility based on how users answer thousands of questions.

Among OkCupid‘s findings are two conclusions about Twitter users. The first one: People who use Twitter every day tend to have shorter relationships, and the problem gets worse as a person gets older, according to its analysis of 833,987 OkCupid users. The average relationship for an 18-year-old who uses Twitter is about nine months, while “everybody else” usually has a relationship average of nine-and-a-half months. At age 50, the frequent tweeter has a 15 month-long relationship, while the non-frequent Twitter user stays in a relationship for an average of almost 17 months.

The dating website has another conclusion that is sure to catch some eyeballs. If someone is a frequent tweeter, he or she is more likely to masturbate (or at least report that he or she is masturbating). Based off data from 21,315 users, OkCupid concludes that there is a 2-to-1 chance that someone who tweets daily is masturbating on any given day, a higher chance than everybody else.

OkCupid also published several sex-related correlations and conclusions based on its data, including that GDP has a greater influence on a region’s sexual habits than culture or religion. You can check out the dating site’s blog post for the juiciest bits of data.

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Dating site OkCupid sent an e-mail to some of its users late last week informing them that they’ve been placed in the top half of users in terms of attractiveness by its algorithms.

As a result of the categorization, the attractive users will be more likely to see one another in match searches, while the users who are in the lower tier will not see a change.

The e-mail (which was sent by the “OkCupid Summer Interns”) specified that the determinations were made through analysis of clicks on users’ photos and reactions in the Quiver and QuickMatch features. Those two tools ask users to quickly respond positively or negatively to photos accompanied by segments of profile text.

When users are presented in searches, QuickMatch or Quiver, their pictures are featured most prominently, but some profile data is included as well — usually just one paragraph. You can’t get a sense of who someone really is from that paragraph, of course, but a user may write someone off because of poor spelling or other factors that are apparent in the clips. So sure, it’s not entirely based on looks, but they’re probably the biggest factor.

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Is OkCupid Shallow?

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People who don’t believe in “leagues” of attractiveness might find this division a little crass, but others will see it as a win-win move for the dating site and its users.

A dating site needs attractive users to thrive, of course. They’re more likely to remain active on the site if they’re easily able to reach men and women they consider desirable prospects. And since they’re attractive themselves, their continued presence will drive pageviews.

Just think: When an attractive user’s photo shows up in a search of currently active users, it’s more likely to receive clicks than a photo of an unattractive member. OkCupid is primarily ad-supported, and those extra clicks and pageviews generate more revenue.

Unattractive users won’t notice a difference — except, perhaps, fewer messages from attractive ones, but they probably weren’t receiving those messages to begin with.

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The Thinking Person’s Dating Site

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The Boston Globe called OkCupid “the GoogleGoogle of online dating.” That’s not because it’s the biggest dating site (it’s not), but because it’s arguably the most innovative and cerebral in its approach and features.

OkCupid tracks data very closely, just as Google does in many cases, and it maintains a blog called OkTrends where it applies user data research to come to fascinating and helpful conclusions about how people approach online dating.

Subjects have included how different approaches to profile pictures affect the amount of messages received, why young men should try to date older women and what the best first messages say.

OkCupid also just launched a site called MyBestFace, which is like a very elaborate, almost-scientific Hot or Not-type tool that invites users to tag themselves and then vote on photos. The person who uploaded his or her photos eventually receives a report sharing which photos fared best with which kinds of people so he or she can make an informed decision about which ones to feature more prominently.

Add that to the blogging features, a newsfeed and detailed matching algorithms, and you have an approach to dating that’s unique to the web-driven twenty-first century. Just don’t screw it up with any Facebook dating faux pas after other websites have found you the love of your life, alright?

image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, CREATISTA

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