The rise of social networking may have driven some users away from dating sites - one of the web's oldest businesses - but at least some niche players are thriving.

Business is apparently brisk at some religion/ethnicity-based dating and matchmaking sites, even if sometimes it's parents who are placing their children's profiles online to find the "right" person, according to the Chicago Tribune (via Boston.com). Sites such as Jdate.com (for Jews), Shaadi.com (for Indians) and Naseeb.com (for Muslims) are bucking the trend of relatively flat growth of most well-known sites.

Shaadi.com's traffic grew 73 percent from June 2005 to June 2006, according to comScore, and unique visitors to Jdate.com increased 43 percent during the same period. Overall, the number of dating sites haw increased to 1,122 from 850 in July 2005, according to Hitwise.