Dating Service

A dating service is a service that introduces you to other singles to hopefully develop romantic relationships. Generally a dating service will require you to provide personal information about yourself and the dating service will then use this information to match you with potential dates. The dating service will normally provide you with a shortlist of potential dates for you to then hand select the dates you would like.

Dating Service - History

The history of the commercial dating service goes back to around the 1950s with hand matching services. In the 1960s and 1970s so called 'computer dating' became popular. A customer would complete a basic yes/no answer questionnaire and these answers were fed into a computer and the computer would scan all the other profiles on record to determine the compatibility of the customers and provide matches.

In the 1980s and 1990s dating services began to offer 'video dating' where a customer would give a short presentation about themselves on video (typically VHS tape) and this would then be distributed to other customers to view. Around the same time came the 'phone dating' style dating service. This dating service would connect many people together in what was essentially a conference call where everyone could speak with each other. This type of dating service often involved an extremely expensive phone call charged by the minute.

In the mid to late 1990s the rise of the Internet gave the dating service another outline and so the online dating service arrived.

The late 1990s also gave raise to the new phenomenon of speed dating, a dating service designed to allow singles to meet other like minded singles quickly and easily.

Dating Service - Television

Television also provided a dating service with many dating game shows. From the 1970s when innovation by producer Chuck Barris made the 'The Dating Game', to Cilla Black in the UK with 'Blind Date', right thought to the present day with shows like 'Joe Millionaire' and 'The Bachelor' taking their own spin on the dating game show.