Online dating personals are fast becoming a popular way to meet other people. Compared to a classified ad, the online dating personals provides a complete profile '' of someone looking for romance on its site. For instance, online dating personals site like Match.com or Salon.com can overflow with tantalizing information.

Online dating has been unheard off in the past years. But the popularity of internet made online dating popular too. Until recently, the majority of people met their boyfriends and girlfriends through traditional means. The most popular ways to meet someone included blind dates, setups, meeting through friends and colleagues, and of course bar and club hopping. By 2000, online dating was on the scene and growing rapidly. Still, many people lacked internet access and therefore were unable to take advantage of the technology. Today, online dating personals are a $300 million industry in the US alone and rapidly expanding worldwide.

Americans have fallen hard for the online dating personals. While other Internet businesses are teetering on a cusp, online dating personals are big-time successes. This year, Match.com subscriptions hit 653,000, and the online dating personals industry as a whole generated more than $53 million in the first three months of this year. By the end of 2002, about 15 million Americans will have visited an online dating personals web site.

The bigger this pool gets, the more normalized the process becomes. The popularity of online personals has changed views on the idea of online dating. Because potential dates often engage in intimate e-mail before meeting, the first date is far less blind. But the very ease and anonymity of the initial experience also encourages social experimentation. This is a particular benefit for women, for whom flirtation with strangers could cause far greater risks. For both men and women, Internet dating may allow singles to make contact with dates outside their social circles. Online glances go beyond the crowded room of one's own insular demographic.

Online dating personals lets you save time. If you wanted to meet ten people in a traditional manner it would mean ten real life dates. In the online dating site, you could see pictures of all ten prospects, read their profiles, and even communicate before you ever agree to a date. You’ll weed out the prospects without potential and hone in on the best available people to meet.

Despite the explosive growth of online dating personals, it is still not easy to give up traditional approach to dating in favor of the Internet. The best strategy is still to incorporate both online and offline strategies.