Housing prices are plummeting. Jobs are evaporating. And the economy is a mess.
But singles are wading into the online dating pool in record numbers, giving virtual matchmakers their best traffic figures in years - and giving users even better odds for finding a snuggle buddy, a fling or The One.
In addition to "This Cougar is looking for her prey" and other bootylicious come-ons, lonely hearts are now headlining their posts with more somber come-hithers, such as "its a gloomy time of year and im not talking about the rain" or "need hot girlfriend, will provide food."
Whether they charge by the month or accept free posts, online personals are experiencing a major boost, even if their users seem to be scaling back on the cost and quantity of their dates.
Craigslist personals postings and eHarmony.com registrations each saw 20 percent increases in 2008. Match.com memberships were 22 percent higher in December than they were in the same period the previous year. Even more interesting, eHarmony and Match.com reported especially high traffic on days when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted.
"We had our third busiest weekend of the year following the five-year low in the stock market," said Mandy Ginsberg, general manager of Match.com North America.
That was in mid-November, a historically slow time for Internet dating. But ask people who were brave enough to check their 401(k) balances at that time: November was historic for other reasons, too. Not only did the Dow dip below 8,000, but the unemployment rate was climbing and housing prices were dropping.
Those disturbing trends aren't likely to end any time soon. In fact, they're likely to continue, bringing twin results: even higher anxiety levels, and impulses to entwine one's life with that of another.
"Stressful times can have a big effect on people's desire to be in relationships," said Gian Gonzaga, an eHarmony research scientist. "When people are feeling stressed about the economy and feeling stressed about their love lives, they're more likely to want to be in a relationship than when they're not feeling stressed."
Gonzaga was part of the eHarmony team that analyzed the results of a new relationship anxiety survey conducted by Opinion Research; 92 percent of 1,092 respondents reported feeling stressed about the economy. How does that manifest in individuals' desire for long-term relationships? About 19 percent of unmarried men and 25 percent of unmarried women said they wanted one even more.
