Timeline of online dating services

This is a timeline of online dating services that also includes broader events related to technology-assisted dating (not just online dating). Where there are similar services, only major ones or "the first of its kind" are listed.

Aknowledgement
The initial version of the timeline was imported from Wikipedia by Issa Rice.

In July 2019, User:Mati Roy outsourced find a couple other sources and creating new columnns: Medium, User goal, Geographical range, User base size, Longevity, Success; see outsourced work on Trello. User:Mati Roy reviewed the outsourced work and the timeline as a whole, formatted the sources, change the tense of the verbs to present, added Facebook Dating, added section for notes. Article I read to look for potentially missing information: The History of Online Dating From 1695 to Now. Live stream of the work is available here:, , ,.

is available.

Feedback and comments
Feedback for the timeline can be provided at the following places:


 * https://github.com/riceissa/project-ideas/issues/12

What the timeline is still missing

 * Add graph of the number of people that met online (note: email mrosenfe@stanford.edu when zir paper will be published and ze will give us permission to post the graph at the end of the paper on the Timelines Wiki)
 * Look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_online_dating_services for ideas
 * Consider adding more non-US dating sites
 * Consider adding matrimonial sites
 * Add background events relevant to online dating, like when mobile phones came out
 * Add events about back-end consolidation (e.g. how Match Group owns OkCupid, Tinder, etc. and events that led that to happen)
 * Maybe include some background statistics like graphs for age of marriage
 * Pew reports might be worth citing
 * The role of social media esp. Facebook as a platform and data source that dating apps can build on
 * The growth of dating services that are women centered, like Bumble, and the distinction between ones that explicitly match versus just let folks discover

Timeline update strategy
Consider keeping the Wikipedia timeline in sync.