Still, it's a fast-growing industry. According to the Pew Research Centerbetween 2013 and 2015, online dating usage has tripled among those between the ages of 18 and 24. Dating services also benefit from tailwinds such as here untapped market, increasing millennial spending power, young people delaying life milestonesas well as working longer hours. This is all on top of the growing ubiquitousness of broadband internet and growing acceptance of online dating. While most early dating websites operated as simple platforms where users could freely browse and contact members, newer sites have made matchmaking technology an important value proposition. But are the lovelorn better served for it? It is therefore unclear whether profit-maximizing sites would strive for the most effective matchmaking technology, or deprioritize innovation. During most of the 20th century, Americans chiefly relied on friends — and to a lesser extent family and even coworkers — to meet their significant other. Computer-assisted matching started as early as 1959, but the biggest shift occurred in the mid-1990s, with the birth of the first online dating websites.