E- Harmony and it’s effect on the world today

Charlie VitoloWRT 235

What is E-Harmony?

“An online dating website grounded in relationship science that matches single men and women for long-term relationships”

• What makes it special is it’s dedication to being the experts in “matchmaking”

• To accomplish this, much was invested into “E-harmony Labs”, which is a ‘relationship research facility’• Claim to be the leaders in matchmaking ability • due to their success in relationship research & technology

About the Company

• Launched August 22nd, 2000 in Santa Monica, California • Used in over 150 Nations across the world• Founded by Neil Clark Warren, renowned in the field of

relationship sciences• Face of the company, appears in many advertisements• Initial three million dollar investment has led to a billion dollar

corporation

Relationship Principles

• After a long history of successful marriage counseling, Dr. Warren believed that certain personality traits led to easy compatibility/more satisfying relationships• Warren spent years developing what is now considered a model for online dating websites in his personalized matchmaking generator• Users fill out a detailed questionnaire, and that info is scientifically matched with other users deemed to be “compatible” which leads to a match possibility

Formula

• What makes the site’s formula unique is that instead of asking the user what THEY like, the questionnaire is focused on finding out what the user really wants in a romantic partner

• This focus is the key factor in the success of the formula, as it is proven compatibility is more successful when a

person’s true underlying expectations are used rather than the one’s they chose to portray to others• Like many other social networking sites, E-Harmony depends

on algorithms which automatically match user’s most important traits

Commercial

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCA9_Fdqfks

• This is a typical type of commercial for the company, as they like to depict average everyday people who seem as clean cut as possible

• This is more than likely due to the fact that the perception behind most online daters is that they are lazy individuals who can’t interact socially

Success/Statistics• The system that Dr. Warren has

developed has lead to much success for the company

• Of all it’s competitors, E-Harmony is credited for having the most in-depth/success matchmaking tools

• In 2009, E-Harmony became the first online dating site to be a billion-dollar corporation (revenue wise)

• Site reports 33 Million Users as of 2011

• 15,000 new members take questionnaire everyday

• 542 members marry everyday in the United States

Safety Concerns

• Since it’s launch, E-Harmony has been a safety concern to many who fear that sexual predators may linger on the site

• Signing up for this site is similar to the easy access of facebook/twitter

• This has caused some to worry about weather or not people actually are who they say they are in their profiles

• The company reinsures customers that they take the right measures to make sure people cannot create multiple accounts and must use a legitimate credit card to prove they are portraying their real identity

Moral/Ethical Complications• What the company has been more

criticized for is the fact that these relationships

start online rather than in person • Some argue that relationships

started online do not have the same level of intimacy as inter-personal ones,

• and that due do this they will not last long term

• Others believe that online users will not be completely truthful with their information, which makes the detailed personality matching system null and void

Arguments• Although we have been

meeting/dating the “traditional” way since the beginning of our history, why not expand

upon our ways of meeting new people?• Almost all communication has moved

to an online/technology setting so why should meeting people be any different?

• Does meeting someone at a bar on a Tuesday night rather than on a computer that scientifically matches what a person really wants in a partner mean those people have a better chance at a successful relationship?

Online Dating Success Statistics

• Over 90% of E-Harmony marriages have higher overall marriage quality scores than “traditional marriages”

• E-Harmony marriages have had over double the success rate of traditional ones

• In addition, E-Harmony couples were twice as likely to report their relationship as “extremely happy”

Designed for “Different Individuals”

• There is a common belief that sites like E-Harmony can only be successful for a certain type of person• While there have been studies showing that shy people are

more likely to join the site, there is no evidence pointing to a specific type of person having more or less

success finding a partner on the site• The questionnaire/matching process prides itself on being

able to accommodate any person

Marginalization

• There has been many inferior versions of online dating sites that have been created to “marginalize” the online dating community

• These sites like christianmingle.com, latinamericancupid.com, blackdating.com have made an effort to emulate the success of E-Harmony and try to market it to a more specific kind of person

• These sites have not been as successful in creating successful relationships as E-Harmony, and it is most likely due to the fact that they are limiting their technology to a certain

group of people

Wrap-Up

• Despite the negative reputation sites like E-Harmony have, they are a very positive communicational tool for a lot of different people throughout the world

Not everyone is good at meeting people in traditional venues, so sites like this give people a much better chance at finding happiness and love that they may not have thought was possible

Who is to say which method of meeting people is the right one? It’s up to the individual.