Another article about online dating, focusing on match.com.
Inside Match.com: It's all about the algorithm.
By David Gelles
http://www.slate.com/id/2300430/
I thought the following bit was particularly interesting:
Quote:
Academics call this "dissonance". "It's a theme that runs through social psychological literature," says Andrew Fiore, a visiting assistant professor at Michigan State University, who works on computer-mediated communication. "We don't know ourselves very well on a descriptive level."
The same is true for the millions of Match users, says Ginsberg, and she tried to incorporate dissonance into the algorithm. "I might come in and say I'm looking for a nice Catholic guy between 30 and 40 who is non-married," she says. "But after weeks of looking at people, I might get an e-mail from a guy who has kids, and I might accept that. It's all about behaviour modelling. All that data goes into algorithms and affects who we put in front of you."
....
It is a subtle shift, but one with profound implications. "Before, matches were based on the criteria you set. You meet her criteria, and she meets yours, so you're a good match," Thombre explained. "But when we researched the data the whole idea of dissonance came into focus. People were doing something very different from the things they said they wanted on their profile."
28 Jun 2011, 10:45 am
