Dating Apps and Network Effects
In this digital age where the technological revolution has inspired technology to become ingrained into almost every facet of our lives, it is no surprise that even dating has become digital. Many dating apps, like Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge, have redefined the dating process, encouraging a process of talking and interacting digitally before meeting in person. While these apps are similar, the restrictions they impose on users and the reputations they have (especially in the college user community) impact how and by whom they are used. For example, apps like Hinge or Coffee Meets Bagel operate with a smaller user base than bigger apps like Tinder. These smaller apps limit the number of connections a user can make in an attempt to create more meaningful interactions. Large swiping-frenzy apps, primarily Tinder, allow users to match with a much wider variety of users, which establishes a much more dynamic but superficial matching process.
The smaller apps still utilize network effects, but much less emphasis is placed on creating a large user base, as the app focuses more on creating subsets of users with similar interests. With larger dating apps, a positive feedback loop is established with a network effect: as more people join the app, there are more options to swipe through and you have a higher chance of interacting with someone you enjoy. The larger apps rely on this network effect to maintain engagement and excitement with the process of discovering frequent new matches, as they offer a much larger amount of daily swipes than smaller apps. However, with the bigger pools of users, these dating apps can actually become inundated with fake or spam profiles, which are much easier to instantiate in the bigger apps where less restrictions are present and profiles are more superficial. While network effects definitely contribute positively to many dating app experiences, they can also have detrimental effects, like an influx of fake users detracting from the experience.
While network effects do influence the popularity and usage of dating apps, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly the positive and negative effects they have. Because dating and meeting people is such a subjective and personal process, it is hard to standardize apps and make the experience appealing to everyone.
https://digital.hbs.edu/platform-digit/submission/tinder-the-dark-side-of-network-effects/