In a move that has surprised very few people in the online dating world, Yahoo Personals has admitted defeat and given up on running its own dating service online. After being one of the earliest online dating providers, Yahoo led the marketplace for a long time but over the last few years has had a huge amount of trouble competing with its larger competitors such as eHarmony.com and Match.com.

And so it’s goodbye to Yahoo Personals and hello to Match.com. The larger and more popular Match.com will absorb Yahoo Personals members and transfer their accounts to their service. Yahoo isn’t getting out of the online dating business entirely, though; they will still earn commissions from signing up new Match.com members via Yahoo channels.

What does this mean for singles? For the most part it should only affect those who are Yahoo Personals members, but not necessarily in a negative way. They will transition to Match.com and be able to take advantage of that site’s features and benefits. Some experts who watch the online dating marketplace think the loss of Yahoo Personals is a sign that only the very big will survive long term, but most others think it is not that dire of a situation. The reality is that there is still going to be plenty of opportunity on the web for other online dating sites to launch and prosper, especially those that focus on niche categories with highly specialized services.

So goodbye, Yahoo Personals, it was nice knowing you!

taraNews & ViewsMatch.com,YahooIn a move that has surprised very few people in the online dating world, Yahoo Personals has admitted defeat and given up on running its own dating service online. After being one of the earliest online dating providers, Yahoo led the marketplace for a long time but over...Advice and Tips for Online Dating