1 – Introduction
1.1 – Background
Online dating has become perhaps one of the most popular developments in mainstream society in recent years. The first online dating site, Match.com was launched in 1993 by Gary Kremen and Peng Tsin (Matthews, 2018) and there’s been huge growth in the online dating industry since. In fact, in 2019, Statista published figures that showed there were 39.7 million paying online dating users and over 180.04 million non-paying users (Statista, 2019).
While Match.com may have been the first dating site, there’s no doubt that it’s lost its crown to Tinder – which is now arguably the most popular dating site or app. A SimpleTexting survey of 1,000 Americans found that the most popular dating app, especially for millennials and men, is Tinder (SimpleTexting, date not known).
Founded in 2012, in Los Angeles (Hartmans, 2018), Tinder is now a global platform and its success is worlds away from its original target audience of college students. Within two months of its original launch, Tinder had over one million matches (Hartmans, 2018); in 2014, ‘Tinder was processing one billion swipes per day’ (Iqbal, 2019) and, by 2018, this number had risen to 1.6 billion (Iqbal, 2019). Today, Tinder has a reach in over 190 countries, boasts two billion views per day, over 30 billion total matches and one million dates per week (Tinder, date not known). Additionally, the average Tinder user logs into the app four times a day and there are over 4 million subscribers to the premium packages offered by Tinder: Tinder Plus and Tinder Gold (Iqbal, 2019).
There’s no denying the popularity of the app but what is perhaps most surprising is the success it has experienced in reaching users of various age groups. A study by We Are Flint, found that the user base of Tinder was made up of 27% aged 18-24, 28% aged 25-34, 15% aged 35-44 while 4% were between the ages of 45 and 54, and 2% were aged 55-64. Perhaps less surprisingly, 0% of users were over the age of 65 (We Are Flint, 2018).
1.2 - Goals and Aims
Tinder works on the basis that it is a requirement, upon account creation, for users to compile their own profiles and hence users have complete control over the ways in which they choose to present themselves on the app. Due to the increasing popularity of dating apps – more specifically – Tinder and, by its nature, the need for self-representation, the main research question for this dissertation is therefore:
‘To what extent is there a gender difference in self-representation in dating profiles on Tinder?’
The initial hypothesis of the researcher is that male users of Tinder will use more thorough self-representations, with ‘fuller’ profiles and there will be more detailed descriptions of who they are and what they are looking for on the app within their profiles, while female profiles will be more image-based and less detailed in the text elements of the profile. This hypothesis has been formed partially from the researcher’s own prior experience and knowledge of Tinder but, more so, the research and findings from the literature review.
1.3 - Overview
Chapter two of this dissertation begins with the literature review – which introduces the primary areas of study which link to the topic of this dissertation. The chapter explores pre-existing literature and studies in the area of identity, self-presentation, misrepresentation and gender – discussing all separately – both in relation to the basic areas and in terms of social media and online dating behaviours and experiences - and then linking areas together. Theorists and scholars mentioned in this chapter include Goffman, Giddens, Ellison et al, Hall et al, Davis and Mulvey.
Chapter three focuses on the methodology of this research – offering a summary of the background of content analysis, definitions, advantages, potential limitations and justification for the usage of said method for this research. The chapter then identifies three smaller research questions in order to better answer the proposed main research question and then discusses the sampling methods, codings and rules for the research – the latter two being available in full in the appendices.
Chapter four analyses the findings of the research and discusses them – especially in relation to the previously discussed literature (chapter two). Finally, chapter five offers a conclusion to the research, attempting to answer the main research question.
I thoroughly enjoyed the dissertation process and was over the moon to have received a first for my work. I found the project to be incredibly fascinating and that it opened my mind and sparked my interest in a number of areas that I perhaps hadn't considered previously. It is definitely one of my favourite pieces of work from my time at the university and also one that I am most proud of.
If you are interested in reading the entirety of my dissertation, please do contact me and I can arrange for you to receive a copy.
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