Impression management and formation in online dating systems

Doug Zytko, Quentin Jones, Sukishini A. Grandhi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Online dating systems are used by millions of people every year to find a romantic partner, yet many of these users report feeling frustrated by the online dating process. This paper presents an interview study in-progress of online dating system use. Findings from 35 users of a popular online dating system in the United States indicate that, contrary to previous research, users typically do not want to deceive their communication partners in order to appear more attractive. Rather, they try to convey the positive attributes they already possess through private communication methods such as site-native e-mailing. Participants also indicate that primary frustrations with online dating stem from not knowing how other daters are interpreting them and why their conversations end abruptly. These findings suggest that some of the misrepresentation found in prior work may actually be unintentional misinterpretation. Together these findings call for additional feedback mechanisms in the design of online dating systems to inform users about their conveyed impressions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationECIS 2014 Proceedings - 22nd European Conference on Information Systems
PublisherAssociation for Information Systems
ISBN (Print)9780991556700
StatePublished - 2014
Event22nd European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2014 - Tel Aviv, Israel
Duration: Jun 9 2014Jun 11 2014

Publication series

NameECIS 2014 Proceedings - 22nd European Conference on Information Systems

Other

Other22nd European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2014
Country/TerritoryIsrael
CityTel Aviv
Period6/9/146/11/14

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Information Systems

Keywords

  • Feedback
  • Impression management
  • Online dating
  • Online introductions

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