For couples in the U. The internet officially edged out friends as the most effective matchmaker for straight Americans almost a decade ago β and for same-sex couples, several years before that. Around the same time that dating sites and apps were reshaping modern romance, Daniela Saban was starting to pay close attention to how these tools were designed.
Now, Saban has the research to back up her recommendations. The researchers partnered with a major U. Saban notes that, given the number of people actively using dating apps and the significance of the life events that can flow from an online connection, even slight enhancements to the process can mean big benefits for users looking for better matches. In their paper, Saban and Kanoria designed a model to simulate how people behave on dating platforms.
In heterosexual online dating pools, for example, there are usually more men seeking women than vice versa. Job-matching sites like TaskRabbit and Upwork use similar methods to rate gig seekers. Their model showed that when those on the more plentiful side of the dating pool i. This is a boon for men across the board because it means other men on the app find the availability of their options increase and can hope to obtain a better match. Surprisingly, what our paper shows is that actually, this may be a good thing for men.
In her other paper, Saban observed actual users of a popular dating platform. Users can only see a certain number of profiles per day on this particular app, no matter how many times they log in. Most see three; some paid users see up to nine. The platform agreed to pilot algorithms designed by the researchers that would retool the decision-making process around how its app selected the profiles shown to users.
Specifically, each additional match reduces the probability of a new like by 8 to 15 percent. In the article, they add that their findings are also relevant to different types of online matching platforms, including those for freelance or task-based work, ride-sharing, and travel accommodations. Enter the terms you wish to search for. February 7, Copy Link Copied to clipboard. Illustration by Alvaro Dominguez. If we can improve these apps even a little, we can have a lot of real-world impact.
