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Dating app

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An online dating application, commonly known as a dating app, is an online dating service presented through a mobile phone application. These apps often take advantage of a smartphone's GPS location capabilities, always on-hand presence, and access to mobile wallets. These apps aim to speed up the online dating process of sifting through potential dating partners, chatting, flirting, and potentially meeting or becoming romantically involved.

Online dating apps are now mainstream in the United States. As of 2017, online dating (which included both apps and other online dating services) was the principal method by which new couples in the U.S. met.[1] The percentage of couples meeting online is predicted to increase to 70% by 2040.[2]

Origins

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The first computerized dating service was launched in 1964, the St. James Computer Dating Service, which became known as Com-Pat. The first U.S. dating service that used computerized match making was Operation Match. It required men and women to complete a questionnaire and was launched in 1965. Operation Match inspired the methodology of Dateline, which became popular in the 1970s and 1980s. Match.com was launched in 1995 and turned computerized match making into a profitable business.[3] Grindr targeted gay and bisexual men at launch.[4] Tinder, launched in 2012, led to a growth of online dating applications by both new providers and existing online dating services that expanded into the mobile app market.[5][6]

Usage by demographic group

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Online dating applications typically target a younger demographic group, though some apps, like Senior Match and Silver Singles are geared toward the 50 and up demographic. Today almost 50% of people know of someone who use the services or has met their loved one through the service.[7] After the iPhone launch in 2007, online dating data has mushroomed as application usage increased. In 2005, only 10% of 18-24 year olds reported to have used online dating services; this number quickly grew to over 27%,[8] making this target demographic the largest number of users for most applications. When Pew Research Center conducted a study in 2016, they found that 59% of U.S. adults agreed that online dating is a good way to meet people compared to 44% in 2005. This explosion in usage can be explained by the increased use of smartphones. By the end of 2022, it is expected there will be 413 million active users of online dating services worldwide.[9]

The increased use of smartphones by those 65 and older has also driven that population to the use dating apps. The Pew Research Center found that usage increase by 8 points since last surveyed in 2012.[10] A study in 2021 found that more than one-third of seniors have dated in the past 5 years, and roughly one-third of those dating seniors have turned to dating apps.[11]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Morning Consult found that more Americans were using online dating apps than ever before. In one survey in April 2020, the company discovered that 53% of U.S. adults who use online dating apps have been using them more during the pandemic.[12] As of February 2021, that share increased to 71 percent.[13]

Research using Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory has indicated that norms about online dating applications tend to differ across cultures. A study published in the Journal of Creative Communications looked into the relationships between dating-app advertisements from over 51 countries and the cultural dimensions of these countries. The results revealed that dating-app advertisements appealed to multiple cultural needs, including the needs for relationships, friendship, entertainment, sex, status, design and identity. The use of these appeals was found to be 'congruent with ... the individualism/collectivism and uncertainty avoidance cultural dimensions.' [14]

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Online dating

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After Tinder's success, many others tried creating their own dating applications and dating websites such as Match.Com created applications for convenience. ARC from Applause,[15] a research group on app economy, conducted a research study in 2016 on how 1.5 million U.S. consumers rated 97 of the most popular dating apps. The research results indicated that only 11 apps scored 50 or greater (out of 100) with more than 10,000 reviews from the app store. These include: Jaumo, OkCupid, happn, Scruff by Perry Street, Moco by JNJ Mobile, Growl by Initech, Skout, Qeep by Blue Lion mobile, MeetMe, Badoo, and Hornet. An app with a 50+ score was considered successful. Other popular applications like Bumble, Grindr, eHarmony, chamet and Match scored 40 or less.[15] To ensure privacy for celebrities, Raya emerged as a membership-based dating app, allowing entrance only through referrals.[16] In 2019, Taimi, which started out as an alternative to Grindr launched a first LGBTQI+ inclusive dating app.[17] A number of dating apps have been created targeting adherents of particular religions seeking partners of the same religion, such as Muzmatch and Salams for Muslims, Upward and Christian Connection for Christians, and JSwipe and JDate for Jews.[18][19][20]

VR Dating

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VR Dating is an application of Social VR where people can exist, collaborate, and perform various activities together.[21] Virtual reality apps use virtual and augmented realities to make the dating experience more lifelike and more effective, as well as allow people to expand what is already possible in the world of online dating.[22]

There are several online platforms of VR Dating. The VR dating app Nevermet is the VR equivalent of Tinder, where people can search and find on dates. However, instead of actual real-life pictures, users will update pictures of virtual selves and will be interacting with avatars rather than real faces.[23] Flirtual is a self-contained social VR app that serves to match users who then decide where and how to meet in VR. Flirtual hosts speed dating and social events in VR.[24]

Effects on dating

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Giulia Ranzini (VU Amsterdam) on the effects on dating by using dating apps.

The usage of online dating applications can have both advantages and disadvantages:[25]

Advantages

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Many of the applications provide personality tests for matching or use algorithms to match users. These factors enhance the possibility of users getting matched with a compatible candidate. Users are in control; they are provided with many options so there are enough matches that fit their particular type. Users can simply choose to not match the candidates that they know they are not interested in. Narrowing down options is easy. Once users think they are interested, they are able to chat and get to know the potential candidate. This type of communication saves the time, money, and risk users would not avoid if they were dating the traditional way.[26] Online dating offers convenience; people want dating to work around their schedules. Online dating can also increase self-confidence; even if users get rejected, they know there are hundreds of other candidates that will want to match with them so they can simply move on to the next option.[27] In fact, 60% of U.S. adults agree that online dating is a good way to meet people and 66% say they have gone on a real date with someone they met through an application. Today, 5% of married Americans or Americans in serious relationships said they met their significant other online.[8] The 39% of online dating users (representing 12% of all U.S. adults) say they have been in a committed relationship or married someone they met on a dating site or app.[28]

Disadvantages

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Sometimes having too many options can be overwhelming. With so many options available, users can get lost in their choices and end up spending too much time looking for the "perfect" candidate instead of using that time to start a real relationship.[26] In addition, the algorithms and matching systems put in place may not always be as accurate as users think. There is no perfect system that can match two people’s personalities perfectly every time.[29]

Communication online also lacks the physical chemistry aspect that is essential for choosing a potential partner. Much is lost in translation through texting. Online dating has made dating very superficial; the picture on a user's profile may cause someone to match or not match before even getting to know their personalities.[30]

An issue amplified by dating apps is a phenomenon known as 'ghosting', whereby one party in a relationship cuts off all communication with the other party without warning or explanation. Ghosting poses a serious problem for dating apps as it can lead to users deleting the apps. For this reason companies like Bumble and Badoo are cracking down on the practice with new features that make it easier for users to end chat conversations more politely.[31]

Online dating was once stigmatized,[32] but has become accepted over time to the point where it is now normalized in the United States.[33]

Perverse incentives and enshittification

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The market for dating apps has been cited as an example of enshittification. The conflict between the app's ostensible goal of matchmaking, and its operators' desire to convert users to the paid version of the app and retaining them as paying users indefinitely by keeping them single, providing perverse incentives that cause their effectiveness to decline over time as efforts at monetization begin to dominate.[34][35][36][33] An analysis by OK Cupid, since taken down, attempted to quantify the statistical basis for these incentives.[37][38] Mathematical modelling has also suggested that it is in the financial interests of app operators to offer their user base a sub-optimal experience.[39]

Data privacy

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Dating apps and online dating sites are often involved in cases concerning the misuse of data.[40] In 2018 Grindr, the first platform for gay dating is accused to have shared data about the HIV status of its users with numerous companies.[41] Grindr recognized the allegations[42] but claimed that it was in order to optimize its platform which doesn’t convince the LGBT community. Grindr defended itself by sharing the data loss prevention of the company and reassuring the users with the public intervention of its CTO Scott Chen. In Europe, dating platforms care more and more about data legislation because of the GDPR sanctions that threatens companies with economic sanctions.

Other personal data are sold by dating apps. The one that is the most bought by private companies remains the geographical information of users. When the user allows localization, apps record them and store them using Geographic Coordinate System. When a data breach happens, geographical information directly exposes users.

As others applications, dating apps can have breaches: hackers have revealed security issues on Tinder,[43] Coffee Meets Bagel[44] or Adult FriendFinder for instance. On the last one, the data of more than 412 million users was exposed, one of the largest leak in terms of the number of accounts exposed.[45] In 2016, the sharing of personal information from almost 40 million users of Ashley Madison by a group of Hackers, the "Impact Team", revealed their real name, phone number, email address, geographical position and sexual preferences.[46] Ashley Madison assured their more than 35 million users that the service was totally "anonymous" and "100% discrete" but they didn't completely delete accounts when users chose to (and paid for that) or recognize that data had actually leaked in a first time. Some suicides have been reported after the leak.[47] Taimi introduced bank-level security to become the "safest dating app" for gay people to date.[48]

Data theft and cybersecurity

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After analyzing a significant number of diverse mobile dating applications, researchers have concluded that most of the major dating applications are vulnerable to simple sniffing attacks, which could reveal very sensitive personal information such as sexual orientation, preferences, e-mails, degree of interaction between users, etc.[49][non-primary source needed]

Online dating platforms are also used as honeypots wherein attackers create fake profiles to steal users' private information.[50]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Yau, Nathan (2019-03-15). "Shifts in How Couples Meet, Online Takes the Top". FlowingData. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  2. ^ "Wild new world of dating will make 'swiping right' seem quaint". NBC News. 29 November 2017. Retrieved 2021-08-28.
  3. ^ Quinn, Tacita (29 September 2024). "'It felt risqué:' How a computer dating service launched in 1965 changed our love lives". CNN. Retrieved 6 October 2024.
  4. ^ Kincaid, Jason (2009-03-26). "Gay Dating Makes Its Way To The iPhone". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  5. ^ Wood, Molly (2015-02-04). "Led by Tinder, a Surge in Mobile Dating Apps". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  6. ^ Witt, Emily (2014-02-11). "How the Tinder App Became a Success". GQ. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  7. ^ "Online dating usage by demographic group". Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. 2016-02-10. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  8. ^ a b "5 facts about online dating". Pew Research Center. 2016-02-29. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  9. ^ Wise, Jason. "How Many People Use Online Dating In 2022?". EarthWeb. Earth Web. Retrieved June 14, 2022.
  10. ^ Faverio, Michelle. "Share of those 65 and older who are tech users has grown in the past decade". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Survey: Dating & Love Among 55+ in 2021". Choice Mutual. 25 January 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  12. ^ "Online Dating Use Rises Amid Coronavirus Pandemic". Morning Consult. 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  13. ^ "Spurred On by COVID-19, Millennials Lead the Way in Destigmatizing Online Dating - Morning Consult Amid Pandemic, Millennials Lead the Way in Destigmatizing Online Dating". Morning Consult. 2021-02-11. Retrieved 2021-02-18.
  14. ^ Paul, Aditi; Saifuddin, Ahmed; Zaluski, Karolina (19 December 2021). "Does Online Dating Promotion Vary Across Cultures? A Cross-cultural Analysis of Homepage Advertisements of Online Dating Services in 51 Countries". Journal of Creative Communications. 17 (2): 179–198. doi:10.1177/09732586211060010. S2CID 245368348. Retrieved 7 September 2022.
  15. ^ a b "The Best And Worst Dating Apps For 2016". ARC. 2016-02-10. Archived from the original on 2016-03-20. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  16. ^ Roose, Kevin (27 June 2018). "Can 'Illuminati Tinder' Save Us All?". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
  17. ^ Q. N. Editor (2019-08-13). "TAIMI BECOMES THE FIRST LGBTQI+ INCLUSIVE SOCIAL AND DATING NETWORK IN THE U.K." Queer News. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  18. ^ Russell, Katie (2017-08-11). "The 20 best dating sites and apps". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  19. ^ Orenstein, Hannah; Lopez, Veronica (March 30, 2021). "This Couple Met On Upward & Credit Their Faith For Keeping Their Love Strong". Elite Daily.
  20. ^ Kessler, Linda (February 2, 2021). "Looking for love? Technology can help". The Dallas Morning News.
  21. ^ Tolcheva, Simona (2022-03-30). "Metaverse Dating: What Is It and How Does It Work?". MUO. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  22. ^ Aggeler, Madeleine (2022-08-18). "'Phantom Touch' and the (Real) Pleasures of Virtual Dating". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  23. ^ Bezmalinovic, Tomislav (2022-02-19). "The Tinder of the Metaverse is here: new dating app Nevermet". MIXED Reality News. Retrieved 2022-12-09.
  24. ^ Ochanji, Sam (May 6, 2022). "Flirt in the Metaverse and Hook Up in the Real World With 'Flirtual' Dating App". Virtual Reality Times.
  25. ^ Turner, Monica Anderson, Emily A. Vogels and Erica (6 February 2020). "The Virtues and Downsides of Online Dating". Pew Research Center. Retrieved 12 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  26. ^ a b "Pros and Cons of Online Dating". Psychology Today. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  27. ^ "How Technology is Changing Dating - PsychAlive". www.psychalive.org. 24 February 2015. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  28. ^ Anderson, Monica, et al. “Americans’ Opinions about Online Dating.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 6 Feb. 2020, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2020/02/06/americans-opinions-about-the-online-dating-environment/.
  29. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (2015-11-11). "The one thing about 'matching' algorithms that dating sites don't want you to know". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  30. ^ Expert, Mara Opperman Relationship Etiquette; IDoNowIDont.com, Co-Founder of; GATTO, Director of Communications at DEL (2015-02-20). "The Superficiality of Online Dating Apps". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
  31. ^ Horton, Helena (2018-10-29). "Dating apps crack down on 'ghosting', as 'epidemic' of ignoring partners puts off users". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-03-18.
  32. ^ "Online dating: Determining the presence of a stigma". ProQuest.
  33. ^ a b Vogels, Emily A.; McClain, Colleen. "Key findings about online dating in the U.S." Pew Research Center. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  34. ^ Johnston, Casey (2012-02-07). "You, me, and "science" makes three: the state of online dating". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  35. ^ Rosalsky, Greg (13 February 2024). "The dating app paradox: Why dating apps may be worse than ever". NPR. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  36. ^ Forrester, Ian (2024-02-05). "The enshittification of the online dating world". Cubicgarden.com. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  37. ^ "Match.Com Acquires OKCupid.com". NPR. 3 February 2011.
  38. ^ "Why You Should Never Pay For Online Dating". OK Cupid. 2010-04-07. Archived from the original on 2010-04-26. Retrieved 2010-04-26.
  39. ^ Voigt, Sebastian; Hinz, Oliver (2015-10-01). "Network effects in two-sided markets: why a 50/50 user split is not necessarily revenue optimal". Business Research. 8 (1): 139–170. doi:10.1007/s40685-015-0018-z. hdl:10419/156274. ISSN 2198-2627.
  40. ^ Choo, Kim-Kwang Raymond; Farnden, Jody; Martini, Ben (26 June 2015). "Privacy Risks in Mobile Dating Apps". AMCIS 2015 Proceedings. 13. arXiv:1505.02906.
  41. ^ Moylan, Brian (2018-04-04). "Grindr was a safe space for gay men. Its HIV status leak betrayed us | Brian Moylan". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  42. ^ Kimball, Spencer (2018-04-02). "Grindr defends sharing user HIV status with other companies". www.cnbc.com. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  43. ^ "Millions of Tinder users may be affected by new security breach". JOE.ie. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  44. ^ Donie O'Sullivan; Sara O'Brien (14 February 2019). "Dating app reveals data breach on Valentine's Day". CNN. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  45. ^ Peterson, Andrea (2016-11-14). "Adult FriendFinder hit with one of the biggest data breaches ever, report says". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2019-04-02.
  46. ^ Brandom, Russell (2015-08-19). "Find out if your email is part of the Ashley Madison hack". The Verge. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  47. ^ Lamont, Tom (2016-02-28). "Life after the Ashley Madison affair". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  48. ^ "New gay dating app has 'bank-level' security for those afraid to be outed". Gay Star News. 2018-05-04. Archived from the original on 2018-05-12. Retrieved 2019-09-19.
  49. ^ Patsakis, Constantinos; Zigomitros, Athanasios; Solanas, Agusti (15 June 2015). Analysis of privacy and security exposure in mobile dating applications. International Conference on Mobile, Secure and Programmable Networking. Paris. pp. 151–162. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-25744-0_13.
  50. ^ Nandawani, Mona; Kaushal, Rishabh (5 July 2017). Evaluating User Vulnerability to Privacy Disclosures over Online Dating Platforms. International Conference on Innovative Mobile and Internet Services in Ubiquitous Computing. Italy. pp. 342–353. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61542-4_32.
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