Meet Online and You Might Meet at the Altar Later On - East Idaho News

Meet Online and You Might Meet at the Altar Later On

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GETTY H 110711 WeddingRingsJPG?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1370335524648Stockbyte/Thinkstock(SANTA MONICA, Calif.) — Thinking about arranging a date online?  There’s a good possibility you might wind up making that person your lifetime mate.

According to a survey by market research firm IBISWorld, 35 percent of recent marriages began in that fashion — a remarkable testimony to the power of the Internet and modern technology.

In fact, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based company says that based on the 19,000 married people who responded to the survey, those who met via the Internet were a little happier and a little less likely to break up than couples who got together in traditional fashion.

The results of the survey that spanned marriages from 2005 through 2012 indicated that 45 percent of people who met electronically did it via dating sites.  The remaining couples started off through online social networks, chat rooms, instant messaging or other online forums.

Still, there are suggestions that the findings may have been skewed since it was the dating website eHarmony that commissioned the study and paid Harris Interactive $130,000 to conduct the research.

Nonetheless, lead author John Cacioppo, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, maintains that he set stipulations to make the study about “science and not about eHarmony” while enlisting the services of independent statisticians from Harvard to assist him.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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