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Source: ONE News
A flurry of single New Zealanders looking for love in cyberspace has resulted in a spike in the use of online dating through January.
Traditionally the start of the year sees a surge in dating website use, in the wake of New Year's resolutions and holiday break-ups, dating website FindSomeone spokesman Paul Ford said.
"January traditionally sees things ramp up - this year we saw a significant spike with 28% more visitors in January than in December 2009. This is even more than the same time last year when we saw the number of visitors increase by 23%."
Online dating continued to play an important role in the way New Zealanders look for love, Ford said.
"The digital mistletoe is alive and well here."
A recent poll by UMR Research found New Zealanders regarded online dating as more morally acceptable than a range of other online activities including flirting online, and downloading copyrighted video and music without paying.
The results found:
- 86% of men and 77% of women regard single people using online dating as okay;
- 89% of those aged under 30 said it was okay for single people to seek a partner via a dating website, but only 66% of those aged over 60 agreed;
- Wellington residents were found to be the most comfortable with internet dating with 92% saying it was okay compared with the national average of 82%.
New Zealand's "hot spots" where the proportion of online daters was higher relative to overall population were Auckland, Wellington, Nelson/Marlborough and Canterbury, Ford says.
At the other end of the spectrum, online dating "cold spots" included Waikato, Taranaki and Northland, he said.
