Online dating

Online dating is the utilization of dating apps and online social media for the purposes of mating. The majority of online dating users (around two thirds) appear to be fast-life strategists looking for casual sex with only 33% of users who have dated through Tinder getting a committed relationship out of it.

Dating apps

Include:

• Tinder
• Hinge
• Bumble

Social media

Positive wall postings yielded higher safety assessments than negative statements by friends. Qualification was similarly affected; participants exposed to positive wall postings rated the profile owners more qualified than their counterparts who read negative statements. Both task and social attractiveness were influenced by the wall postings made by friends with regard to the profile owners. Task attractiveness of the profile owner was significantly higher when the statements from friends were positive than when negative; and profile owners were rated significantly more socially attractive when friends’ wall posting statements were positive than when they were negative.

In layman's terms the more social media clout, the higher physical attractiveness of the clout members, and the more positive things they have to say about the profile owner, the higher social status as well as perceived social and physical attractiveness of the profile owner. Interestingly the study also found women to be attracted to anti-social posts/behavior (sexual innuendos, excessive binge drinking at a bar) by the male profile owner (but men found this unattractive in the female profile owner).

This study confirms the anecdotal, social status maxxing tip of thuggmaxxing. Quote from the study:

An unanticipated interaction effect involving the sex of the profile owner and the nature of the wall statements was obtained with respect to the effect of friends’ Facebook Friends and Individual Evaluations J. B. Walther et al. 44 Human Communication Research 34 (2008) 28–49 ª 2008 International Communication Association comments on perceptions of the targets’ physical attractiveness. The negative statements depicted normatively undesirable behavior, as they involved sexual innuendo and insinuated that the target person was drinking excessively the previous night. These statements raised the desirability of a man’s appearance among the subject population in this study, whereas the residues of such behavior rendered the target physically unattractive when she is female.

See also

• Game
• Offline dating
• Social media