US online dating industry revenueFireball meteor sightings reported
American online-dating revenue and reported fireball meteors, climbing together. Two completely independent ascents: more people swiping at midnight, more people looking up briefly before the swipe. The night sky and the inbox are both busy.
US online dating revenue grew from a few hundred million dollars in 2005 to over 5 billion by 2022 as Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and the Match Group portfolio scaled. Fireball reports grew at a similar pace because of an observational shift: the American Meteor Society's online reporting tool, smartphones, and dashcams turned bystanders into witnesses. The actual rate of fireballs entering Earth's atmosphere did not change; the rate of someone seeing one and writing it down did. Two completely unrelated lines climbing for unrelated reasons.
More observers, more reports. The rate of any visible thing scales with the number of cameras pointed at it.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “US online dating industry revenue” vs “Fireball meteor sightings reported” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
