G1: User Research Report
(Photo by cottonbro from Pexels)
Existing dating apps are centered around individual profiles. Users see individual profiles, and if they like what they see, they express positive interest and hope the other person reciprocates. However, this model does not accurately simulate how people date offline, as it excludes a common way people meet their partners: mutual friends. Dating app users also are not always who they say they are, and catfishing is an ongoing issue.
We hope to address both of these issues in our project by creating a dating app experience with higher trust and transparency through the usage of friend endorsements. Our general audience is anyone interested in using dating apps to date, but for the scope of this class, we will narrow that population down to only include UW students.
We set out to research online dating behaviors and challenges. We utilized two main methods: a survey, and fly-on-the-wall observation. We thought interviews would be useful for personal anecdotes, but we settled for our chosen methods due to time constraints on top of COVID-19 restrictions. In the interest of time, we did not restrict our reach to solely UW students and instead targeted people within the college-aged (18-22) demographic.
Survey Methods
We created an online survey to send out to peers. We wanted to understand which dating apps are commonly used and the behaviors that users have on those apps. The survey could be taken online and was about 10 questions long, which was more convenient for participants than interviews. Those who use or have used dating apps were asked about the compatibility of their matches and what they would like to change about the apps they use. Those who do not use dating apps were asked about their reasons why.
Survey Results
Among participants who use dating apps, we found that most respondents rarely met their matches in-person, though they tended to message them at some point. Multiple respondents justified this with the issue of safety and verification. Beyond the expected nerves of meeting new people, there was a fear of fake accounts, intentions of the other party, as well as a difficulty to communicate in a natural manner.
For the participants who do not use dating apps, the main reason is discomfort and fear of safety. They felt uncomfortable presenting their profile to strangers, judging someone solely based on photos, and swiping on someone they don’t know very well. Most of these people indicated that they prefer meeting new people in a more natural setting (through friends and family) so they have an opportunity to get to know the person more in-depth first. Survey participants also indicated that there were some areas in which they wished dating apps included information about, such as personality, political affiliation, and passions. While some users might volunteer those pieces of information, it is generally up to their discretion rather than an integrated part of their profile.
Observing “Subtle Asian Dating”
We used fly-on-the-wall observation in the “Subtle Asian Dating” group on Facebook. We thought this group was interesting because it is a rare example of an online dating community where profiles are generated by an individual’s friends. In this group, one or multiple friends of a single person create a post that “auctions off” their friend. These posts include basic information like name, height, hobbies, and location, as well as “pros” and “cons” as perceived by their friends. The pros and cons were unique in that they were often exaggerated and written casually, using a lot of slang and emojis. For example, these are some pros found in the three most recent posts in the group: “💚 Tidy/Hygienic: very sensitive olfactory system,” “Soft Boy”, and “🧸 an empath.” Cons were never truly derogatory. From the same three posts, examples of cons include “❤️ Youngest child,” “He’s basically a model so you might look really short in pictures,” and “🦉she doesn’t know what sleep is.” The individual is then tagged in the post, and the author of the post usually urges readers to message the individual being “auctioned off.”
We also observed that not everyone in the community was there to date or “auction off” a friend. Those who were “auctioned off” had friends in the Facebook group who would make positive comments on the post; they were usually overly enthusiastic on purpose and making references to pop culture. For example, one post had comments like “BEING HER FRIEND MAKES ME FEEL LIKE THE LUCKIEST PERSON ALIVE” and “SHE’S LIKE A SHOT OF ESPRESSO, LIKE BEING BATHED IN SUNLIGHT” (a reference to a trending Andrew Garfield interview). Finally, we noticed that some members of the community tagged their friends in posts they saw, even if they did not personally know the person being “auctioned off.” For example, one post had a comment where someone tagged their friend and also commented “it’s your time 🙂.”
Takeaways for Our Project
Based on our data, we have identified a couple key aspects of online dating that we can focus on. Some key takeaways are:
- Users want to know that the person they are talking to is real
- Users want to know more about who they are talking to; a minimalistic profile may not be the most conducive for creating a connection
- Communication can be difficult to initiate and sustain in online dating apps
- Friends are intrinscially motivated to help their friends in dating. Keeping this in mind, we will consider ways to integrate friend endorsements into an online dating platform. We have seen from “Subtle Asian Dating” that friend endorsements have potential through creating a more transparent and supportive community. Our design would ideally utilize this feature to encourage more user participation and help users achieve their goals. This is simultaneously a challenge and an opportunity because it will allow us to explore different implementations. A review system similar to Yelp has its pros and cons, and simpler +1 endorsements like LinkedIn have their own challenges. Another feature to consider would be a friend network, which would mimic the more organic connections that people would have offline. We also would like to consider ways to facilitate natural conversations, since communication was a challenge that many users faced based on our survey. With in-app messaging being a very common feature, it will be interesting to think about how it can be improved while still maintaining a usable, enjoyable experience. Integrating mechanisms to encourage and facilitate conversations could greatly improve engagement and outcomes for users.