Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle... more Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle to present and evaluate traits germane to attraction. However, the research community is largely unaware of successful online dating system-use strategies and how the knowledge of these strategies could inform system design. In this paper we begin to address this gap in knowledge with an interview study of online dating coaches who consider their advocated system-use strategies successful based on personal use and feedback from clients who implemented their strategies. Their advocated strategies entail keeping online evaluation intentionally minimal and persuading users to meet in-person as quickly as possible because current system designs stifle reliable evaluation of attraction-relevant traits online, notably personality. We discuss the implications of insights gathered from these strategies for online dating system design using theories relevant to romantic attraction.
Many users of online dating systems have a multitude of relationship goals including casual encou... more Many users of online dating systems have a multitude of relationship goals including casual encounters. However, most studies of online dating systems have focused exclusively on users' abilities to find long-term relationships. This has restricted our understanding of how to design systems for users that have multiple relationship goals. To address this gap in understanding we explored how people use online dating systems in regards to casual encounters. We did this through an interview study with users of a popular online dating system in the United States and a study of online dating coaches who give behavioral advice specific to the pursuit of casual encounters. Findings highlight how users subtly disguise and probe for openness to casual encounters, while coaches try to overcome ambiguities in user intentions through a series of targeted dating methods.
Online dating systems are a common way to discover romantic partners. Yet there persists a gap in... more Online dating systems are a common way to discover romantic partners. Yet there persists a gap in knowledge regarding how users of these systems determine which potential partners are worthy of in-person meetings, as well as the outcomes of these in-person meeting decisions. The objective of this dissertation is twofold: 1) to understand how online dating system users make decisions to meet or not meet potential romantic partners in-person, and 2) to understand how online dating system designs currently support—and could better support—predictions of initial in-person attraction to potential romantic partners.
As a socio-technical phenomenon, online dating has significant appeal to researchers interested i... more As a socio-technical phenomenon, online dating has significant appeal to researchers interested in various aspects of human-computer interaction – presentation of self in online environments; norms of disclosure and deception; and the extent to which technological design informs dynamics of human relationships. With these many facets of socio-technical practice come important and complex methodological questions, where both the sensitivity of the topic and the specific technologies being studied can introduce practical and ethical obstacles. This panel brings together scholars across human computer interaction, communication, information studies, and Internet studies to examine methodological issues that have arisen in their own work on online dating, with the objective of broadening these issues of ethics and methods to the wider CSCW community.
People use online dating systems to form and create impressions of potential romantic partners. W... more People use online dating systems to form and create impressions of potential romantic partners. While there is a wealth of research on the use of profile pages for impression management in online dating systems, there is little work on how other forms of communication in these systems are used for impression management. This paper reports preliminary results from a qualitative study with users of a popular online dating system. Early findings from 24 in-depth interviews indicate that primary frustrations with online dating stem from inadequate feedback about conveyed impressions and perceived limitations in forming impressions of others. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving the design of online dating systems.
Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle... more Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle to present and evaluate traits germane to attraction. However, the research community is largely unaware of successful online dating system-use strategies and how the knowledge of these strategies could inform system design. In this paper we begin to address this gap in knowledge with an interview study of online dating coaches who consider their advocated system-use strategies successful based on personal use and feedback from clients who implemented their strategies. Their advocated strategies entail keeping online evaluation intentionally minimal and persuading users to meet in-person as quickly as possible because current system designs stifle reliable evaluation of attraction-relevant traits online, notably personality. We discuss the implications of insights gathered from these strategies for online dating system design using theories relevant to romantic attraction.
Despite the importance of individuals coming together for social group-activities (e.g. pickup vo... more Despite the importance of individuals coming together for social group-activities (e.g. pickup volleyball, chess clubs), the process by which such groups coalesce is poorly understood. Existing theories focus on adoption and contribution rates, group types, and the formation of group norms, as opposed to the processes involved in initial group coalescence. We address this gap in the literature through an interview study examining: 1) how well people's needs for social group activity engagement are being met; 2) the challenges they face in finding and participating in, and; 3) leading interest-based group activities. Our findings highlight how people's needs are not being addressed by current technologies. In particular, they place a heavy burden on individuals to step forward into leadership positions where the return they will receive for their efforts is often unknown, or extremely limited. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of interest-based group coalescing technology.
Online dating systems are used by millions of people every year to find a romantic partner, yet m... more 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.
Online dating systems are now widely used to search for romance and yet there is little research ... more Online dating systems are now widely used to search for romance and yet there is little research on how people use these systems to manage their impressions with potential romantic partners. To address this issue we conducted an interview study of 41 online dating users, revealing that—contrary to prior work—online daters largely do not want to intentionally deceive their online dating partners because they think such lies would quickly be discovered face-to-face. Nevertheless, bad first dates were a norm rather than an exception for this study's participants. In this paper we present various frustrations online daters associate with conveying and forming impressions of potential romantic partners before meeting face-to-face. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of online dating systems.
Online dating systems are the most common way people meet their marriage partners online. Neverth... more Online dating systems are the most common way people meet their marriage partners online. Nevertheless, online daters struggle to evaluate personality traits of potential partners using profile pages and private messaging in these systems. Meanwhile, Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) have emerged as a popular way young people find romantic partners for relationships in the physical world. We conducted two interview studies – one concerning evaluation behavior in online dating systems (n=41) and the other concerning collaborative activities in MOGs (n=35). Insights from these studies reveal the weaknesses in evaluation tools native to online dating and suggest that collaborative activities could potentially address evaluation challenges in online dating. The paper concludes with a discussion of a series of design concepts for online dating in order to improve users' abilities to evaluate their potential romantic partners for in-person meetings.
Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle... more Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle to present and evaluate traits germane to attraction. However, the research community is largely unaware of successful online dating system-use strategies and how the knowledge of these strategies could inform system design. In this paper we begin to address this gap in knowledge with an interview study of online dating coaches who consider their advocated system-use strategies successful based on personal use and feedback from clients who implemented their strategies. Their advocated strategies entail keeping online evaluation intentionally minimal and persuading users to meet in-person as quickly as possible because current system designs stifle reliable evaluation of attraction-relevant traits online, notably personality. We discuss the implications of insights gathered from these strategies for online dating system design using theories relevant to romantic attraction.
Many users of online dating systems have a multitude of relationship goals including casual encou... more Many users of online dating systems have a multitude of relationship goals including casual encounters. However, most studies of online dating systems have focused exclusively on users' abilities to find long-term relationships. This has restricted our understanding of how to design systems for users that have multiple relationship goals. To address this gap in understanding we explored how people use online dating systems in regards to casual encounters. We did this through an interview study with users of a popular online dating system in the United States and a study of online dating coaches who give behavioral advice specific to the pursuit of casual encounters. Findings highlight how users subtly disguise and probe for openness to casual encounters, while coaches try to overcome ambiguities in user intentions through a series of targeted dating methods.
Online dating systems are a common way to discover romantic partners. Yet there persists a gap in... more Online dating systems are a common way to discover romantic partners. Yet there persists a gap in knowledge regarding how users of these systems determine which potential partners are worthy of in-person meetings, as well as the outcomes of these in-person meeting decisions. The objective of this dissertation is twofold: 1) to understand how online dating system users make decisions to meet or not meet potential romantic partners in-person, and 2) to understand how online dating system designs currently support—and could better support—predictions of initial in-person attraction to potential romantic partners.
As a socio-technical phenomenon, online dating has significant appeal to researchers interested i... more As a socio-technical phenomenon, online dating has significant appeal to researchers interested in various aspects of human-computer interaction – presentation of self in online environments; norms of disclosure and deception; and the extent to which technological design informs dynamics of human relationships. With these many facets of socio-technical practice come important and complex methodological questions, where both the sensitivity of the topic and the specific technologies being studied can introduce practical and ethical obstacles. This panel brings together scholars across human computer interaction, communication, information studies, and Internet studies to examine methodological issues that have arisen in their own work on online dating, with the objective of broadening these issues of ethics and methods to the wider CSCW community.
People use online dating systems to form and create impressions of potential romantic partners. W... more People use online dating systems to form and create impressions of potential romantic partners. While there is a wealth of research on the use of profile pages for impression management in online dating systems, there is little work on how other forms of communication in these systems are used for impression management. This paper reports preliminary results from a qualitative study with users of a popular online dating system. Early findings from 24 in-depth interviews indicate that primary frustrations with online dating stem from inadequate feedback about conveyed impressions and perceived limitations in forming impressions of others. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving the design of online dating systems.
Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle... more Despite the popularity of online dating systems, prior work indicates that online daters struggle to present and evaluate traits germane to attraction. However, the research community is largely unaware of successful online dating system-use strategies and how the knowledge of these strategies could inform system design. In this paper we begin to address this gap in knowledge with an interview study of online dating coaches who consider their advocated system-use strategies successful based on personal use and feedback from clients who implemented their strategies. Their advocated strategies entail keeping online evaluation intentionally minimal and persuading users to meet in-person as quickly as possible because current system designs stifle reliable evaluation of attraction-relevant traits online, notably personality. We discuss the implications of insights gathered from these strategies for online dating system design using theories relevant to romantic attraction.
Despite the importance of individuals coming together for social group-activities (e.g. pickup vo... more Despite the importance of individuals coming together for social group-activities (e.g. pickup volleyball, chess clubs), the process by which such groups coalesce is poorly understood. Existing theories focus on adoption and contribution rates, group types, and the formation of group norms, as opposed to the processes involved in initial group coalescence. We address this gap in the literature through an interview study examining: 1) how well people's needs for social group activity engagement are being met; 2) the challenges they face in finding and participating in, and; 3) leading interest-based group activities. Our findings highlight how people's needs are not being addressed by current technologies. In particular, they place a heavy burden on individuals to step forward into leadership positions where the return they will receive for their efforts is often unknown, or extremely limited. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of interest-based group coalescing technology.
Online dating systems are used by millions of people every year to find a romantic partner, yet m... more 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.
Online dating systems are now widely used to search for romance and yet there is little research ... more Online dating systems are now widely used to search for romance and yet there is little research on how people use these systems to manage their impressions with potential romantic partners. To address this issue we conducted an interview study of 41 online dating users, revealing that—contrary to prior work—online daters largely do not want to intentionally deceive their online dating partners because they think such lies would quickly be discovered face-to-face. Nevertheless, bad first dates were a norm rather than an exception for this study's participants. In this paper we present various frustrations online daters associate with conveying and forming impressions of potential romantic partners before meeting face-to-face. We discuss the implications of these findings for the design of online dating systems.
Online dating systems are the most common way people meet their marriage partners online. Neverth... more Online dating systems are the most common way people meet their marriage partners online. Nevertheless, online daters struggle to evaluate personality traits of potential partners using profile pages and private messaging in these systems. Meanwhile, Multiplayer Online Games (MOGs) have emerged as a popular way young people find romantic partners for relationships in the physical world. We conducted two interview studies – one concerning evaluation behavior in online dating systems (n=41) and the other concerning collaborative activities in MOGs (n=35). Insights from these studies reveal the weaknesses in evaluation tools native to online dating and suggest that collaborative activities could potentially address evaluation challenges in online dating. The paper concludes with a discussion of a series of design concepts for online dating in order to improve users' abilities to evaluate their potential romantic partners for in-person meetings.
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Papers by Doug Zytko