Networks & Game Theory in Dating Apps
Dating app Hinge differentiates itself from other dating apps, like Tinder, by incorporating a user’s social network into suggesting potential “matches”. This way, users are held to a certain level of responsible behavior. How the app works is through matching users through mutual friends in their social network, providing a set amount of profiles to users with their name, age, occupation, education, and their shared friends or social networks. Karen Fein, vice president of marketing for Hinge, believes Hinge relies on a certain level of transparency that keeps its users accountable since their reputations are at stake. They recently added a feature that allows users to specify what kind of relationship they are looking for to “empower [their] users to swipe smarter”.
Dating apps like Hinge utilize concepts from networks like strong triadic closures as well as game theory. The premise of Hinge relies on the idea that better, smarter matches are made through making connections with mutual friends in one’s social network. If person A is a user on Hinge and has a strong tie with person B who has a strong tie with person C, it is quite reasonable for a weak tie to exist between person C. Person A and person C may even have mutual interests that will make for a good relationship since person A is a close friend with person B who is a closer friend with person C. Unlike Tinder who matches random strangers, the idea that Hinge matches users who share Facebook friends makes many users more comfortable since the idea of the strong triadic closure is inherent in the network of this app.
Hinge also displays concepts of game theory. Unlike Tinder who gives a never-ending stream of nearby users, Hinge only provides a select list of new potential matches once a day. I think that Hinge’s approach to dating makes the female strategy a bit easier. With Tinder, women have to consider the payoffs of matching with a “good” mate or a “bad” mate more so than men do. Men make decisions based on attracting any woman, which is why woman spend on average more time per swipe then men. Hinge takes away the need to worry as much about whether a male match will have positive payoffs in the long-run based on the time invested since these potential matches are mutual friends within their own social network and not some random stranger. I believe it evens the playing field so men and women have similar strategies in making decisions based off the attractiveness of their potential match. It makes the game of dating easier for women and keeps users accountable and responsible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/30/fashion/hinge-a-dating-app-introduces-friends-of-friends.html?_r=0
http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/28824/
http://mic.com/articles/110774/two-thirds-of-tinder-users-are-men-here-s-why