NESSA NGUYENCalifornia Lutheran University

November 29, 2011Communication Theories

Britney (1:00) Gaga (4:22) Kesha (1:10)

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Deception in online dating

Overview

Evidence of popularity

Attitudes toward online dating

Strategies in online dating

Discussion

Online dating

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Growth of online dating services

- Revenue quadrupled from 2001 to 2002, $72 - $302 million(comScore, Mulrine & Hsu, 2003)

- $470 million in 2004 (OPA, Madden & Lenhart, 2006)

- 45 million Americans visited an online dating site(comScore, Hamron, 2003)

- Match.com’s study (2010): 1 in 5 singles have dated online, 1 in 5 couples met online

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Niche markets of online dating

SegmentationReligion

Race

Age

Education

Interest

WebsitesJdate, Christian Mingle, Christian Singles

Black Singles, Black People Meet, Black Planet

Matchmaker vs. Nerve Personal, Plenty Of Fish, OkCupid, Zoosk

The Right Stuff

Science Connection

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RESEARCH ON ONLINE DATING

Literature review

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SURVEY STATISTICS- 61% of American adults know someone who has dated online

- Think it’s a good way to meet people + Adults: 44% + Single & looking: 61% + Online daters: 80%

- Do not think it’s “desperate” + Adults: 61% + Single & looking: 80% + Online daters: 80%

-Think it poses danger: + Adults: two thirds + Single & looking: two thirds + Online daters: 43%

Madden & Lenhart (2006)Pew Internet & American Life Project

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Deception in online dating profiles

- Compared to identity construction Facebook (nonymity) (Zhao, Grasmuck & Martin, 2008) + More honest & accountable + Project a more desirable self

- Deception about age (Epstein, 2007) + Men: Increased distribution at 32, 36 + Women: age spikes at 29, 35, 44

- Lies about physical appearances(Hitsch, Hortacsu & Ariely, 2004) + Women lie more about weight: 6lbs, 18lbs, 20lbs discrepancies in their 20s, 30s, 40s

+ Men lie more about height

+ BMIs are lower than national averages (2-4 pts for women, 1 for men)

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Strategies in online dating

- Toma, Hancock & Ellison (2008): + Lies about weight & height were small in magnitude + Participants who were farther from the mean lied more + Strategically balanced deception with anticipated constraints

- Uncertainty reduction techniques (Gibbs, Ellision & Lai, 2010) + Warranting: indirect, e.g. Googling, picking up on cues + Self-disclosure: to prompt reciprocal self-disclosure + Information-seeking strategies

- Third-party confirmation/shared social network + Engage.com encourages family members/friends to join + Community approach (Epstein, 2007),

word-of-mouth marketing

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- Stemmed from people’s needs for meeting suitable, long-term partners

- Facilitated by extensive use of the Internet & computer-mediated communication

- Does not substitute long-term face-to-face interaction

- More sophisticated services & dollars in marketing

- Future research: matching techniques, screening users,how to utilize services

Discussion: Online dating

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Bibliography

Epstein, R. (2007, January). The truth about online dating. Scientific American Mind, 3(20), 54-61.

Hamron, A. (2003, June 29). Online dating sheds its stigma as losers.com. New York Times. Hitsch, G. J., Hortacsu, A., & Ariely, D. (2005, January). What makes you click: An empirical analysis of online dating. Gibbs, J. L., Ellison, N. B., & Lai, C. (2010). First comes love, then comes Google: an

investigation of uncertainty reduction strategies and self-disclosure in online dating. Communication Research, 38(1), 70-100. doi: 10.1177/0093650210377091Madden, M., & Lenhart, A. (2006). Online dating. Pew Internet & American Life Project,

Match.com. (2010). Recent trends: Online dating. Retrieved from http://cp.match.com/cppp/media/CMB_Study.pdf Mulrine, A. & Hsu, C. (2003, September 29). Love.com. U.S. News & World Report, 135(10), 52-58. Toma, C. L., Hancock, J. T., & Ellison, N. B. (2008). Separating fact from fiction: An examination of deceptive self-presentation in online dating profiles. Personality and

Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(8), 1023 - 1036. doi: 10.1177/0146167208318067Zhao, S., Grasmuck, S. & Martin J. (2008, September). Identity construction on Facebook: Digital empowerment in anchored relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(5), 1816- 1836.