Go to

Match.com called on renowned biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher, Professor Stephanie Coontz and University of Binghamton’s Institute of Evolutionary Studies to help Matchdesign a comprehensive study of all aspects of the single life.  What they didn’t know was that the findings would be so surprising and revelatory; that they would bust long-held and entrenched myths about gender, age and sex and prove how deeply things have changed.

The Match.com Single in America Study.

Being squeaky-clean mainstream, Match is can’t really approach the level of insight, reporting and expose-style blog posts that OkCupid is famous for. These studies are more of a yearly checkin regarding the same old questions. These questions reflect what Match thinks is important. Who asks who out, sex on first dates, dating behavior, etc.

At the least I would like to see a comparison of how answers change over time and study results from other sites. Every site could link to a master questionnaire and the results be collated. That way we could see how people on different types of dating sites respond. That would be fascinating.

The results of these studies should be baked into Match.com itself. Sending out the study as a PR piece is nice, but its not helping Match members. How can Match take what they have learned and applied it to how people use the site? Obviously people aren’t dating on Match, but the company is in an unparalleled position to share/show/teach people to be better daters. Then again, why mess with that when you are making $400 million a year already. Don’t upset the apple cart, as they say.

These studies tend to dredge up depressing thoughts and bad-date experiences for most singles, myself included. For better or worse, its still important to get a sense of how singles think, act and respond to our ever-changing culture.

Tradition Still Applies – Men, women still expect you to make the first move and ask a lady out. This is still depressing.

Both men and women agree that 15 minutes into the date is long enough to tell if there is chemistry (31%). However, if the date isn’t going as planned, only 12% of singles would actually call it a night and leave within the first 30 minutes of the date. People sit through so many bad dates! Go for coffee and a lap around a park for a first meeting. When coffee cup is empty, you can extend or end the date.

If your date isn’t getting the hint that you aren’t a match made in heaven, most singles feel that honesty is the best policy.  52% of those surveyed agree you should politely explain you aren’t interested, followed by 24% of singles who recommend being evasive about your future availability. 52% believe honesty is the best policy? Thats funny. Men disappear and women just.. well I don’t know what they do because we’re the ones disappearing.

6.5% of singles claim they have frequently had sex on the first date, while 80% of singles disapprove of ending the date between the sheets. Only 6.5%? that seems a bit low. Lots of people (both genders) use Match to have sex on first or second dates, thats why they are there. People feel Match is safer than Craigslist. 80%? I’d like to put that to the test and see how people react. One thing to say what you think people want to hear, its another to be three-drinks into a date with a super-hot person and feel that vibe. You sleep with them if you don’t really like them. You wait if you do. Thats how it works.

11% of singles between the ages of 35-44 wait to friend a date on Facebook until it becomes an exclusive relationship. So 89% friend each other during the figuring-it-all-out phase? Thats higher than I expected.