By now, you've probably tried online dating, or had friends meet using it, or even married because of it. People are still more likely to find their mates in person at clubs/bars and through friends, but a dramatic shift has happened over the past 14 years that has established online dating as a way a third of Internet-using adults get together.

A report, done in collaboration with eHarmony Lab, released earlier this spring shows that among those using the Internet, meeting and dating online is more commonplace than ever before. By 2009, more than 30 percent of couples who have access to the Internet met through online dating.

What's more, success isn't a barometer of the popularity of online dating, as it's more important to have the experience, perhaps because the process of elimination is a universal construct, no matter how the meeting arises.

"In general, it is clear that meeting others online either for friendship or romantic purposes is now a common, and in some contexts dominant, practice," concludes the report, "A Global Shift in the Social Relationships of Networked Individuals: Meeting and Dating Online Comes of Age," by Bernie Hogany, Nai Li, and William H. Dutton at the Oxford Internet Institute.

The report surveyed thousands of participants from 18 countries where "Internet penetration reached at least 30 percent," and found the timeless quest for love has changed in the decade-plus since connectivity to the Internet became prevalent.

"We posit that online dating requires a critical mass of Internet connectivity and exposure. This is one further reason for its rise after 1997." You can see in the chart below how much more comfortable people seemed to get with the idea of online dating over the past 14 years.

I've dipped my toes in the online dating pool. Crafted profiles here and there, even gone on dates. But for me, it hasn't yielded any meaningful contact — yet. But I know several happily married couples who have met through Match.com and eHarmony. They're not socially awkward, they're attractive and they're fabulous people. But even amongst them, there is sometimes that involuntary, embarrassed wince when asked how they met.

Well, no need for that anymore.

While this report found about 23 percent of people below the age of 40 began a relationship through the Internet (vs. 36 percent aged 40 and above), most of my friends found their life partner right around their late 20s, early 30s. You're no longer in school (probably, unless you're in grad school), finding a partner at work hasn't happened or isn't wise, and those hobby clubs you joined hoping to find The One haven't panned out. So you try one or a few of the many dating sites out there: OKCupid, PlentyOfFish, Zoosk, etc.

The study found that people who know others who date online are also more likely to approve of it in general and to try it themselves.

Online love matches still emanate mainly from dating sites, but people are also meeting on social networks, forums, personal websites and chat rooms. 

The report did find some interesting variations between nations:

Respondents in Japan, which is known for high technology adoption, are more reluctant to embrace online dating,whereas in Brazil, which is often seen as a site of gregarious public spaces, people tend to be more comfortable with meeting people online ...

In countries where social network sites have rapidly diffused, it is easy to consider the online world as merely an extension of the offline one. By contrast, in countries where interest-based groups, pseudonyms and icons (rather than face pictures) dominate, it is easy to consider the online world a place where one goes to meet people that might not otherwise be accessible, and may be considered separate from the offline world.

This is an inexhaustible topic, as a few recent articles demonstrate. The Atlanta Post gets more in-depth into the booming business that is online dating, while The Guardian quotes one professor who thinks people are more honest in online courtships.

Did you meet your current romantic partner online? Answer our poll and let us know. Thank you!

More stories:

• Is 'World of Warcraft' the future of online dating?
• Facebook app makes love matches among friends
• New dating site treats members like prostitutes

Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Athima Chansanchai, who is willing to try this online dating thing again.