Impression Management and Formation in Online Dating Systems

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 sitenative 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.