Category Archives: Literature Reviews

Literature Review #8- LeFebvre

Swiping me off my feet: Explicating relationship initiation on Tinder

Leah LeFebvre

LeFebvre looks into the formation of hook-ups and relationships via the heavily mediated space of Tinder. The great thing about this research is that he directly exposes the methods that go into creating and selecting a mate of Tinder. As we have clearly talked about before, “Attraction relied on pictures and bios,” which is a unique feature of the Tinder app specifically (LeFebvre,15). Using what this author calls the “playing cards method” Tinder’s features have you swipe through a stack of photos, selecting potential mates based on the mediated criteria you entered. This means that the pictures that surface are filtered by the age, gender and location you selected when creating your profile. This affordance is something that is completely unique to online dating- you are able to choose criteria of potential mates before even speaking to them. In offline spaces you have no control over who is around you, where they are from and what ages they are.

This mediated space however does not allow for the spontaneity of face-to-face interactions. LeFebvre writes about this stating that this processes can “…constrict the organic communication occurring face-to-face. These strategic processes deliberately force individuals to select their preferences,”(LeFebvre,12). By doing this you definitely lose a sense of reality and or organic interactions. As I learned through my own interviews, many of the users liked this aspect because it made it easier to select a potential mate, particularly one that is close by. However as we have learned through other research as well, this space can create ingenuine interactions among the users.

Another interested concept introduced in this paper was the idea of anonymity as well as being able to never meet these people in real life. He notes that “Mobile dating apps, such as Tinder, afford users the opportunity to fantasize about anonymous individuals, interpersonal relationships, communicative behaviors, and sexual exploits…”(LeFebvre,6). By not ever having to meet these people in real life it allows for the users to have more freedom in interaction and not feel the anxiety that may come with face-to-face interactions. Two of my respondents even claimed that they liked to use the app less for meeting up in real life and more for “feeling important or attractive”. By not meeting in real life but interacting online people feel validation when they see that they have matched with someone. This type of validation would never be able to occur in an offline setting. You certainly can guess and judge if someone has a crush on you but ultimately you can never know unless they say something. It is even harder to know if someone is attracted to you just from your looks in an offline setting because it goes against social norms to tell strangers you find them attractive. However, on Tinder when you match with someone you can safely assume it has something to do with your looks or your bio and you can know instantly that someone is attracted to you. This validation- I learned through speaking with my respondents- can actually be incredibly helpful.

Literature Review #7- Pascoe

Studying Young People’s New Media Use: Methodological Shifts and Educational Innovations

C.J. Pascoe 

This paper allowed me to better understand the affordances and some of the challenges that faced me while I was conducting my research and my interviews. While new technology does help people connect over vast spaces and with remote or isolated populations, some issues can occur. One thing Pascoe talks about however that was helpful in my research as well as my access to the online space of Tinder as well as my ability to send many people my interview questions that were not present in Oregon. Being able to expand my radius of information gathered from young people that use Tinder allowed me to get a better grip on how they are using the technology. If I had only stuck to those in my geographical location I would have had a lot less success with my understanding of Tinder. I did however conduct four personal interviews where I was able to not only see how the respondent physically reacted to the questions (body language), but I was able to go off script and ask clarifying or related questions that just popped into my head. This was one draw back of having people fill out my questionnaire and send it back to me, and for that reason I was not able to use as much of the information given because they also could have been changing their answers to sound a certain way.

Another affordance of being able to use this online space to study Tinder users was my access to the app itself. By allowing myself to spend time using the application I became more familiar with the ins and outs as well as how someone may use it outside of this study. Although I did not spend much time gathering information by using the app myself, it would open up many doors for further research on it. People could gather information over longer periods of time and have personal experience with the application.

Literature Review #6- Boyd

Why Youth Heart Social Network Sites: The Role of Networked Publics in Teenage Social Life

Danah Boyd

Boyd discusses in her research the identity formation and networked publics that form through teenagers using Myspace. While the application is different than Tinder, her points do help shine some light on important topics in my own research. First she introduces the idea of networked publics, this is an online space that is mediated, instead of the offline world where you have no control over who is around you. “While people cannot currently acquire the geographical coordinates of any person in unmediated spaces, finding one’s digital body online is just a matter of keystrokes,”(Boyd,127). It is easy to find people in online spaces that you may never come across offline.

Through this mediated space, people are allowed to create identities and connect with strangers that they otherwise may not have done in real life. A key concept Boyd writes about that directly correlates with my research is the profile formation and communication through mediated spaces. Something I found while speaking with my four respondents is that, when creating their profile, they certainly had to look at others to see what they were doing. In other words in order to decide what was appropriate for a Tinder profile they needed to look at other users first. They needed to “…get a sense of what types of presentations are socially appropriate; others’ profiles provide critical cues about what to present on their own profile,”(Boyd,128). In doing this the user is directly influenced by others around them and quickly learn the social norms that are embedded in Tinder.

Another interesting factor in her work was the idea that online spaces can often be more dense and confusing to navigate. This allows for misinterpretation much more frequently than might happen in an offline setting, (Boyd,129). All four of my respondents said that it was hard to have deep personal conversations online because it is fairly easy to misunderstand what someone is trying to say or there is fear someone will not understand you. Because of this the likelihood of being misinterpreted on Tinder and even seen in a negative way is much higher

Literature Review #5- Davis

“Tensions of identity in a networked era: Young people’s perspectives on the risks and rewards of online self-expression”

Katie Davis

This piece of research talked about online identity and the implications of having a profile that may be different from who you are as a person. During my research something that was expressed by ¾ of those I interviewed was a concern for someone to be inauthentic to their online selves. Online dating can oftentimes be more authentic than any other online sphere, as Davis explains, “Though a certain degree of embellishment may be expected on such sites, the success of online dating depends, ultimately, on a couple’s ability to bring their relationship offline,”(Davis,638). Those that I spoke to personally about their experience with different online identities ultimately explained that it would be fairly difficult to be completely ingenuous online. If you ever wanted to meet this person in an offline setting, you would want your profile to be as genuine to who you are as possible while also embellishing here and there.

Hank and I went particularly into depth about identity and his feelings of anxiety when he uses Tinder to find a date because he has certainly interacted with people that were not genuine. The specific features of Tinder however allow for the affordance of more comfortability in online identity because of the cross-media aspect of it which I explained in a previous review. Davis goes on to explain that other people did see some benefits in having a space to express yourself that maybe you would not be comfortable doing. For instance during their case study, a few interviewees claimed they saw Chris (the fake profile) as someone who may have not been comfortable with his offline self, (Davis,643). This can also be true for Tinder, as I learned in a few of my interviews, people will use their best photos and ideal traits of themselves to present online. This is certainly a degree of identity management and as Davis goes onto explain sometimes having different online personas can lead to  “…higher levels of identity diffusion,” (Davis,638).

During my own research however, none of my respondents expressed feeling like they were being themselves while using Tinder. They did however explain that most people use the best elements of themselves to make their profile seem more attractive. However we can only speculate the implications this twitter monitoring can lead to. Aside from what Hank expressed as being disappointed when you meet someone offline that isn’t like their profile, a few other issues may ensue. You could feel let down if you were on the other end of the stick and someone else perceives you as disingenuous. Also creating profiles where you seem most attractive does not show people the true you, they only see what you want them to see. This impression management may lead to a future relationship with someone that is built on making yourself look good. The app also creates an environment where looks are the only thing that matter. You select a prospective mate based on the photos they upload of themselves and not necessarily the conversations that follow. Danny, the third person I interviewed expressed to me that he definitely only stops at “hot” profiles and that the way you look is the first thing that attracts you to a mate on Tinder.

Literature Review #4 – Ranzini & Lutz

Love at first swipe? Explaining Tinder self-presentation and motives

The Research done in this paper is extremely helpful towards my study. By giving out a 12 minute survey to a large group of people they intended to understand self-presentation through the app Tinder while controlling for things such as loneliness, self-esteem and narcissism. The results showed that those with higher self-esteem are much less likely to engage in falsifying their profiles. Stating on page ten that “…Users with more self-esteem portray themselves in a more authentic fashion,”(Ranzini,10) By looking at the presentation of self we can begin to better understand the different ways in which Tinder is used and its impacts on people’s self esteem. As we will later read in my interviews with my respondents, people tend to have more authentic profiles on Tinder because there is a much greater potential that you will meet this person in real life. “…it is precisely the potential of a future encounter that drives individuals towards an authentic self-presentation,”(Ranzini,5).

Navigating online identities can be confusing and oftentimes misleading. While at the same time a specific affordance of TInder is that you will be more likely to find authentic representations of self. This is due to a number of things, the first being the latter mentioned above, the second being the connection with Facebook. By creating a network that exists across social media sites there is more verification of someone’s personality and looks.

Other affordances mentioned in this particular research were “…portability, availability, locatability, and multimediality,”(Ranzini,2). By this the author is speaking about the frequency in which you have the potential of meeting new people online because of the large collection of users on Tinder. Availability meaning that there is likely a lot of people within your age range and with similar interests that will be available for a face to face meeting. Locality speaks to the unique feature of Tinder which allows you to find people within a certain locale of miles that you have the ability to widen or lessen. This affordance ensures that you look at people online that are close by and thus increase the likelihood of a face to face interaction. And lastly, multimediality is what I mentioned in the previous paragraph which is that Tinder crosses a few different barriers of social media. Not only is facebook required to have in order to use the app but you are also able to link your Instagram profile to yours on Tinder. This allows for a much larger range of photographs and adds another layer of authenticity. Making a fake facebook and producing organic seeming photos on instagram to create a fake Tinder profile seems very over the top and is unlikely for someone to commit to.

Literature Review #3 -David and Cambre

Screened Intimacies: Tinder and the Swipe Logic

This research paper was much more technical than the others, it mainly focused on the logic of swiping left and how that split second decision can make it much easier for most to reject others. It can also create increased anxiety about being liked and looking good. For instance on the the researchers who did in depth field work, using tinder for a two day period, had this to share; “…48 hours on Tinder would send me over the edge. You put a picture of yourself up, and after 48 hours, nobody finds you attractive. You’ve lost all your looks. You no longer have it. The world decided you’re ugly,” (Wygant,9). Up until now we have seen some affordances of the app and some downfalls when it comes to identity and impression management. However we have yet to discuss the issues of self image and the app.

The unique format of Tinder allows you to scroll through many many people swiping left or right and when you match (someone swiped right for you) a little emoji pops up to congratulate you. But as the researcher mentions above, if no one swipes right for you you begin to wonder why. Many people can grow anxious and self conscious because no one around them “found their images attractive”. When speaking to a few of my respondents in my own research they had expressed feel anxious that no one would swipe right for them.

It sometimes can be even more intimidating on Tinder than in real life because you definitely know when someone doesn’t like you. Verse in real life, you can make excuses and jokes that maybe it just wasn’t your night. But when you know people are looking at your pictures and swiping left, and you open your phone to find zero matches, you get self conscious. -Kailey

Here my respondent explains why she felt that being on Tinder and being rejected can be more harmful than being rejected in real life. When you are at a large party and no one comes and talks to you there are many ways to shake that off. Maybe it wasn’t your night as Kailey put it, or maybe you wore the wrong shirt, maybe everyone is too intoxicated or even shy to make a move or introduce themselves to you. So many different factors can go into a face to face interaction or lack thereof, but with Tinder you have a different level of certainty that people are not interested. Many people saw your photo and did not swipe right, they did not want to match with you which is purposefully choosing not to engage with you. It leaves a lot of more room to feel insecure.   

Literature Review #2- MacKee

“Social Media in Gay London: Tinder as an Alternative to Hook-Up Apps”

This study looks at Gay men and their usage of Tinder in London, England. Although not much was mentioned about why these men used the app, this paper gives a great insight into gay impression management and the comparison of Tinder to other dating applications. One interesting term introduced was the idea of polymedia, or as the author describes it is “…a constellation of different media as an integrated environment in which each medium finds its niche in relation to the others,”(MacKee,3). Or rather it is the blend of different forms of media or social media in one space. Tinder does just this by requiring those that use it to link their profile on there with their Facebook. This adds another element of authenticity because you cannot just upload whatever photos you want- keeping those that wish to use false identities at a lower number. Having this polymedia aspect on Tinder also might make the users more comfortable with meeting those online, offline. Requiring Facebook to link up with Tinder suggests authenticity and promotes comfort; what you see on the app will likely be very close to what you see offline.

However people still engage in impression management. MacKee explains that the users of Tinder he spoke to expressed that making a socially acceptable Tinder was key. You want to portray the best you by selecting flattering photos and making sure you have an enticing bio. “…[on] Tinder, mediation happens through pictures, the statement of interests, common contacts in shared networks,and the writing of a profile description,”(MacKee,4). Making sure you have an attractive profile makes you more desirable for potential dates. As I found through speaking with Hank, the only male homosexual used in my study, having a desirable profile is key but also proposes some challenges.

If everyone is using extra cute pictures of themselves and even lying about things they are interested in to attract people to talk to them, it’s hard to know who is real and who isn’t. Then when you meet them in person and it isn’t what you expected you are disappointed.

Mediating your profile is a standard move but one that can lead to confusion and as Hank stated, disappointment. Another interesting finding to note that was mirrored in my own research is the notion that “Tinder has been constructed as a gay haven for connecting with men who are not looking for a casual sex partner and who, in fact, may be open to the possibility of finding romance,”(MacKee,4). As I found through my interviews and surveys, the two gay participants expressed more interest in finding a partner not for hooking up. While on the other hand both male and female heterosexual respondents stated they have used it to find a quick date or casual hook up. Although my findings are not concrete because of the amount of heterosexuals I interviewed verse homosexuals, it does mimic what MacKee claims. Hank expressed to me when asked about his sexual interactions through the app that he only used it to find romantic partners and felt most of the people he spoke to online that were also gay males were looking only for that as well.

Literature Review #1 – Rafalow and Adams

“Navigating the Tavern: Digitally Mediated Connections and Relationship Persistence in Bar Settings”

The Rafalow piece gives us a great look into the world of online dating and media usage in a public setting such as a bar. The researchers find that smartphones are being used as tools not only to locate others that may be interested in the surrounding areas but the mediate interactions as well. Tinder is unique because it works off of location, some of the apps experienced in this paper were also GPS related, Rafalow states that “GPS-enabled smartphone applications provided additional means to find and communicate with people who were nearby,”(Rafalow,34). This was also true for about half of the people I interviewed, the fact that it allows you to see interested people that are in your area as well as decide how large of a range you want (from 5 miles – 35 miles). The application also selects people to show you and swipe through that are likely to have things in common with you. Since the app is connected to your facebook it transfers interests you posted online there onto your profile on Tinder. The app will also tell you if that person you are looking at has any mutual friends. This aspect may be an encouraging factor for users- if they see that someone has mutual friends this may be a lead talking point, getting them more interested than they initially were. Depending on what you wish to use the app for and if you want those you are close with to know you are using it, having mutual friends may deter others away as I found out while speaking with Kailey (who I will mention in depth later on).

This piece also discusses the way in which people use digital media to engage in impression management. “Putting on the “best face” in not just digitally mediated contexts but also in traditional face-to-face interaction mattered for establishing trust and interest between two people,”(Rafalow,36). Here the researchers talk about the importance of maintaining an authentic look. If you used very overly flattering pictures of yourself of ones that portray you in a way that is very different from you in real life, it may be hard to build trust with someone else who does not see the online you in reality. While speaking with Hank as well as three other participants in my research, a frustrating expressed was that sometimes people are not as they seem. This made meeting people in an online space more tricky because as Hank stated “You can’t know if someone smells funny or if they aren’t as attractive as they look on Tinder…” This aspect may make connections more difficult for some and more disappointing when someone isn’t who you thought they were.

This paper relates to my topic in many different ways and provides a first hand account of social media usage in a public setting where people tend to go to meet others. By conducting research in a bar they were able to see how people navigate the online and offline world. Weak ties were also often created and something mentioned in the paper. Many people were able to at least establish a weak tie with another by swapping cell phone information. It is interesting to note however that if someone is not seeking to have further contact with someone they swapped phone numbers with, the interactions can get awkward. For instance in the paper one bar patron by the name of Carlos asked a researcher to get coffee with him and she declined. When she saw him in person at the bar he did not speak with them and refused to make eye contact. Rejecting someone online can definitely make it more uncomfortable when you see them in person for the first time after the fact. One of the students I interviewed who wished to stay anonymous stated that they feel extremely awkward when they see someone they talked to on Tinder but never actually met, in real life. This online exchange affects how people navigate the offline world and can make rejection all that more awkward for those getting turned down. However, for those rejecting it may be easier for them to do it online rather than face to face because they do not have to deal with it in person. Often times I have discovered and experienced myself, it is easier for people to say the more difficult things such as breaking up with someone or turning them down, when you do not have to physically engage with that person.