I. Dating Industry history

The dating industry formed in the 1600s when the first services to help singles found spouses arose. At the time, being unmarried past the age of 21 was shameful causing some to turn towards matrimonial agencies to help them find a mate. The services utilized print ads typically on behalf of men who paid the agency to recruit them a wife. With the invention of the modern newspaper close to 1700 the print ad medium for finding a spouse began to gain popularity. Companies profited from posting a column in exchange for a fee. Continuing into the 1900s, print advertisements continued to be the dominant medium for the dating industry, but starting around the middle of the 20th century came the concept of computer assisted matchmaking. In the mid-1960s, Lewis Altfest and Robert Ross created Project TACT (Technical Automated Compatibility Testing). Participants paid $5 and answered roughly 100 multiple-choice questions about themselves. After submitting responses, cards printed out with names and phone numbers were provided. The concept of using formulas to match singles based on their like, dislikes and characteristics was born. The computer assisted matching concept however, would not catch on for several more decades. Other new concepts also arose in the dating industry. Shows such as The Dating Game brought the idea of matching strangers with similarities to the forefront of entertainment, with contestants asking questions of three potential matches and then choosing one based of the answers. From there, concepts arose such as speed dating where individuals would have 10-20 five minute dates in a night and then select their best match and video dating where singles would talk about themselves and for whom they are looking. Then with the advent of the internet, new types of dating services were created. Companies such as AOL offered