Speed dating is defined as "... a formalizeddating systemoriginated in Jewish circles in the United States as a way to ensure more Jewish singles met each other in large cities..."

So that's how and where and why speed dating started. How does it work, and how does speed dating online work are the questions we will attempt to answer here.

In speed dating, each participant has the ability to meet another single-up to 10 in one session-where they have gathered at a local caf. Each person is given a name tag and a score card and each "date" lasts seven minutes. You are not allowed to talk about what you do for a living or where you live. The object is to make friends, and if anything happens after that, bonus, the organizers collect the score cards after the dates are completed and if there are enough matches on two cards, the organizers give the participants the other person's phone number.

Speed dating online takes place in chat rooms, wherein the participants follow the same rules as speed dating in person. When your seven minutes are up, you go into a different chat room. Online dating services which provide speed dating are especially popular in the UK and Australia.

While adult dating services online and free online dating services have their share of successful matches, speed dating- both in person and online- report a 50% success rate. However, some of the statistics may be askew, as online speed dating is losing popularity because people don't want to pay membership fees to talk for seven minutes in a chat room when they can talk to as many people for as long as they like online. The statistics are more reliable when you take into consideration that most speed dating websites are in fact, a place to sign up for the newsletters that tell you when a speed dating event is coming to your area.