Online dating has quickly become the number one choice for singles to meet people to date. The online dating industry has been continually growing in popularity and for good reason. If you are on the fence about whether to try out online dating as a way to find romance, consider these five positive reasons why using an online dating service might be a good choice for you.

1. Greater Choice
A single utilizing an online dating service has a better choice of potential matches than a single using more traditional dating methods like the local bar or coffee shop. With online dating you are allowed to browse through several profiles looking for that special someone. When you head to the corner coffee shop you only have a chance of meeting a handful of single people, and sometimes never meet anyone at all. With online dating you have greatly increased your chances of finding someone interesting.

2. Get What You Want
Many online dating services allow you to search through profiles based on certain key phrases or through a filtering process. By only looking through profiles that have the word “Christian” or “sports fan” in them, you have an increased chance in finding someone that shares your views and interests and eliminated those that don’t. When you meet a man or woman at a bar, you have no way of telling right off the bat if they are Christian or Atheist, a San Diego Charger’s fan or if they think that football is a violent sport. By using search functions and filtering on online dating services to identify profiles of potential matches, you can eliminate the time spent looking through profiles of people that do not share your interests.

3. Personal Info Can Stay Private
A great thing about online dating is its anonymity. When initiating contact with someone you have been attracted to online, you don’t have to give out any personal information…not even your email address. You can take time to really get to know a person before giving out personal information like your phone number, unlike other forms of meeting people. If you meet someone at a singles spot, you are forced to give away your phone number in order to keep in contact, even if you have just met the person and don’t know enough about him or her to know if they have good intentions.

4. Fears and Embarrassment Can Be Reduced
If you decide to contact someone though email you can take the time to really plan out what you want to say to that person with online dating. If you see someone across the room and try to approach them, sometimes nerves and embarrassment can get the best of you. You may have planned out what you were going to say, but when you approach it all gets flustered coming out of your mouth. With online dating you can sit down and think about your email, read it over a couple times, and send it knowing that you have expressed yourself to the best of your ability. The social awkwardness that can come with approaching someone on the fly in person is virtually eliminated.

5. It’s a One on One Experience
At a bar, club, coffee shop, or other traditional singles meeting place, it is almost impossible to make a personal connection with someone you are interested in. There is active competition for attention at these social gatherings and a one on one interaction can be very hard to come by. With online dating it is personal right from the beginning. You communicate one on one in a private email conversation with the person you are interested in and are able to form a personal connection right off the bat, rather than compete in a room full of other single guys and gals all out for the same goal.

For singles fed up with the traditional dating scene, and looking for a change, online dating may be the way to go. You can meet more people with similar interests without sharing personal information and, once you find the perfect profile, you can form an immediate personal connection. It is certainly worth a try.

Kim Lance is the Associate Publisher of Online Dating Magazine Online Dating Magazine, an Internet publication covering online dating through news, reviews, experiences, interviews, and articles.

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