Strategy
Netflix
You might find the love of your life online - but you might not.
My experience with online dating was not great.I met guys who never texted back after one seemingly awesome meet-up, guys who ghosted after seven seemingly awesome meet-ups, and guys who looked … different from their profile pictures.
I remember being incredibly frustrated - wasn't the algorithm supposed to match me with guys who were more interested in a relationship and more similar to me than all the lame-os I'd met IRL?
Five years after joining OKCupid (I stopped using it after about a year), I got an answer: Not really. I was on the phone with Mandy Ginsberg, who is the CEO of Match Group North America, meaning she oversees Match, Plenty of Fish, and OKCupid.
Ginsberg told me a personal story, the moral of which is this: No matter what medium you use to meet people, you're going to face the same challenges in finding a relationship.
In between her stint as CEO of Match.com and her current role as CEO of Match Group North America, Ginsberg spent almost three years running The Princeton Review, which was at the time owned by Match Group.
When she returned, she remembers thinking:
"Because of the sheer numbers and the volume and number of people, I was like, 'Oh, everyone's going to find people. All the problems have been solved.'
"And what I found is that it's not like you're this holy grail that came into the dating category. You still heard the same things you heard, which is ability to have chemistry, or someone not being sure about their intent, or going out on endless first dates and nothing ever clicking."
To be sure, some would say that online dating has created new challenges - like making users think there's always someone better out there than the person they're currently seeing.
But if you think joining a dating service will revolutionize your romantic life, you're likely in for a rude awakening. People are still people - now you're just being introduced to a bigger pool of them.
That doesn't mean you won't meet the love of your life online - you might - but it may take some rejection and disappointment before you get there.
Ginsberg said: "It didn't matter if dating happened 20 years ago or 10 years in the future; it's still going to have the same challenges."