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matter, such as a person’s way of
coping with stressful situations,
are all but impossible to measure
online. The report concludes that
searching for love on matchmaking sites is no more effective than
trying to pick up strangers at a bar
— or on Twitter.
“To date, there is no compelling evidence that any online dating matching algorithm actually
works,” Northwestern University
associate professor Eli Finkel,
the lead author of the study, told
the Association for Psychological
Science in February. “For years,
the online dating industry has
ignored actual relationship science in favor of unsubstantiated claims and buzzwords, like
‘matching algorithms,’ that merely sound scientific.”
To be sure, social dating has its
own shortcomings. Unlike Chemistry.com or OKCupid, social media sites don’t offer a pool of singles all looking for love.
Figuring out if an Instagram
user is in a relationship or looking
for one is often a matter of pure
guesswork. And though Twitter
or Turntable might offer a more
organic way to break the ice, it
can be uncomfortable approaching someone for a date on a site
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he or she is not necessarily using
for that purpose. Social dating
also risks mixing business with
pleasure: confining flirtations to a
site designed specifically for flings
avoids the awkwardness that can
result from having a client stum-
Some tweets
exchanged
by Davis and
her fiancé,
Thomas
Edwards.