There seems to be no shortage of studies on the subject of online dating and race.
Who contacts who, who gets more emails, and why singles are more comfortable contacting those with similar values and race has been researched by the University of California Berkeley as well as online dating site OkCupid.
The Berkeley study looked at 1 million online daters in the United States who were members of an online dating site in 2009-2010. Their findings included that over 80 percent of white singles prefer to date other white singles. Their study determined that that younger singles, males, and blacks would date outside their race. White singles, mostly females, and those skewing older preferred dating within their race. Feedback from University students was posted on YouTube and is posted below.
What does this all mean to online daters? It means that your inbox will be more full with potential suitors if you?re white. Plain and simple, Whites and Non-Whites like writing to White singles according to both studies.
I?d like to think that race shouldn?t matter in 2011, but apparently the Berkeley study shows that online daters are naturally drawn to photos of those within the same race.
OkCupid?s blogpost on OkTrends confirmed separately that White singles are the most popular on their site. 89% of the 82 million email messages researched in their post were sent to white singles according to What If There Weren?t So Many White People? I think it?s important to note that 74% of their members are white.
At the end of the day, online dating offers you the opportunity to cast a wide net and meet a variety of singles from different races that you might not meet in your neighborhood, should you choose to do so. Compatibility is personal and the choices are vast.
Julie Spira is an online dating expert and author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online. Visit her at CyberDatingExpert.com. Like her at Facebook.com/cyberdatingexpert
Julie Spira is America's Top Online Dating Expert. She's an award-winning dating coach who's been helping singles find love online for 25+ years. Follow @JulieSpira on IG.
