Friday, October 24, 2014

Online Dating Self-presentation- Sami Taylor

                I hate to admit it but I love Tinder. When I’m bored in class I go on tinder. Before I go to sleep I check it. Sometimes when my girlfriends get together, someone says, “Look at this hot guy I matched with on Tinder”. Every time I get a match or a message it’s a little compliment to me. I think Tinder ties into our discussions and readings about Self-Presentation and online dating because it’s almost completely based on looks (and possibly a few misleading fun facts).
                Tinder seems like it is an app that’s exclusively for hooking up with people close by but I have a few friends that have actually gone on dates with Tinder matches and one friend that’s currently dating a guy she met on Tinder. But for the most party I would say Tinder is for “hookups”. But it’s different from other dating sites because there are minimal details on your profile. All you can see is 1-6 pictures, age, background info, your mutual friends, and their “about” message. Even though you could post meaningful information on your “about” section, most people post weird anecdotes or quotes that have nothing to do with them or their personalities.
                In our reading “Self Presentation in Online Dating” the researchers defined impression motivation as an online dater’s motivation to control their profile self-presentation. They continued to explain that the purpose of self-presentation is to “aid in the fulfillment of personal goals.” Then what are the personal goals of dating? The point of online dating is to create some type of personal relationship. When it comes to impressions online, I think we tend to focus on misrepresentations. But in a study researching managing impressions online, almost all participants reported they accurately represented themselves but many came to the consensus that the their representations were polished versions. I would agree with this and I think it’s more important to take note of the type of website or application people are using. Different apps and sites usually show different purposes. For instance a guy I meet on Match.com versus a guy I meet on 3nder versus a guy I meet on Ashley Madison will all probably have totally different profiles, goals, and intentions. I think this is because different websites usually attract people based on different relationship goals. If I was on match.com, I might post something about my life goals and my family and a picture of me that is very similar to what I look like day to day because on match.com I would be looking for a relationship and someone with similar interests. But on Tinder, the point is to find a random person to hook up with, so no one really needs to know anything about me, just how attractive I am. So I only post pictures where I’m dressed up and have makeup on. My “about sami” section says “Just tindering my way through life. If you don’t like Chipotle don’t talk to me”.

In conclusion I would say that self presentation is very dependent on  relationship goals and also what website or applications your using.

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