eHarmony & Tinder: Mutual Friends Who are Machines
Before the existence of online dating, relationships were most likely to be limited to acquaintances formed due to proximity, triadic closure properties, educational institutions, work, social events, and etc. But now, online dating services modify those traditional network theories that were originally depended upon for new relationships. It has greatly autonomized the selection process, increased the pool to choose from, and have changed dating cultures.
First, sites like eHarmony, as opposed to Tinder (discussed later), asks users to complete a long survey asking things like personality, job, age, sexual preferences, and appealing traits. Based on the information of eHarmony’s 66 million members, the algorithm decides and selects potentially strong ties that can lead to relationships based off of the strong triadic closure theory, which states that “If a node A has edges to nodes B and C, then the B-C edge is especially likely to form if A’s edges to B and C are both strong ties”. In a way, eHarmony works as a mutual friend with strong ties but a non-human friend that only exists to connect people. It cannot be considered as an official node in a human network graph because it is not formed by a human, hence the modification. After it does its job, the “non-human mutual friend” disappears and the two strongly connected people are the only tie left in the triangle. 
Sites like eHarmony artificially create strong edges in hopes of them closing the triangle through an algorithm for people looking for committed relationships. Explained in Fig 1 & 2.
However, apps like Tinder has a different approach. Unlike eHarmony, Tinder is solely based on looks and limited personal information. Therefore, it tries simulate only the Triadic Closure Theory, which states that “if two people in a social network have a friend in common, then there is an increased likelihood that they will become friends themselves at some point in the future” (Different from the Strong Triadic Closure Property). It introduces potential matches based on look-driven and quick swipes instead of long personal surveys. This explains the light dating and hook-up culture that Tinder has created, which is different from eHarmony that actually tries to form strong edges. The Washington Post article named named “Online dating’s age wars: Inside Tinder and eHarmony’s fight for our love lives” believes that Tinder is actually aligns more with the offline-world when compared to eHarmony since it simulates that “old style of dating: catching someone’s eye and, knowing nothing about their background, feeling a sense of attraction from across the room”.
According the the article mentioned above, dating websites and applications such as eharmony.com and Tinder have grown to a $2.2-billion-dollar industry in the United States. In addition, one in 10 adults spend more than an hour everyday on an online dating platform. Is forcing mutual nodes, whether strong or neutral, by computers the future of romance? Is it morally right? Do you prefer Tinder or eHarmony? Whatever the answer may be, the online dating culture is surely exploding. Food for thought!
Blog inspired by: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2015/04/06/online-datings-age-wars-inside-tinder-and-eharmonys-fight-for-our-love-lives/