The purpose of this study has been to investigate the virtual world that people are part of on online dating sites. To do this we have investigated two different research questions, which are the following: What functions do the online dating sites provide? Why and how are the online dating sites being used by their members? In order to gather information about these matters, we have used a qualitative method consisting of participating observation, scrutinizing and single person interviews. Our results indicate that people have different goals with their usage of online dating sites; some are looking for love, a long-term relationship while others are looking for sexual contact. There are many different online dating sites to choose from depending on the users’ objective. The online dating sites we have observed offer similar functions. To find someone of interest most of our interviewees use the search function. The way of initializing contact when finding someone of interest varies between our interviewees, but most of them send flirts and mails. Online dating offers a possible alternative for people to find a potential partner.

The development of digitization has resulted in people communicating more digitally. People keep in touch with friends and family on the respective platforms, but we arealso looking for new contacts and relationships online nowadays. Studies have shownthat it was in the 90’s that the phenomenon of online dating started and since then avariety of online dating sites have developed. Today, Tinder is the most used onlinedating site in Sweden. The purpose of the use of online dating sites differs and so doesthe presentation of the people on each online dating profile. The purpose of this essay isto investigate how people choose to present themselves on an online dating site, whatthey think about other people ́s presentations and how they act in the interaction withother people that they meet through an online dating site. The method used for this essay is a quantitative survey that has been distributed on various platforms online. The target group is women and men aged 15–50 who aresingle and active / have been active on some form of online dating site. The survey was answered by 120 respondents.The results of the survey shown a majority looking for a furture partner on each onlinedating site where the personality of a partner is prioritized before appearance. The respondents want to be portrayed as a possible partner, and as a funny and nice person on the online dating site rather than just showing off the super finical qualities ofthemselves. Despite the aspects that appearance is of high priority that previous researchpresents, my results of the survey show something else. The respondents consider themselves as honest people in the search for a future partner.

La fréquentation des sites de rencontres est désormais une pratique répandue en France et un objet de débat important. À partir d’une recherche empirique originale qui croise des enquêtes qualitatives et quantitatives, cette thèse propose une sociologie de ces services de rencontres sur Internet. Se plaçant d’abord du côté de la production des sites, elle montre la constitution d’un nouveau marché économique – celui de la rencontre – dont elle dissèque les différentes logiques. Elle explique en particulier la forte standardisation des plateformes, et la diffusion plus récente de sites spécialisés, comme autant de dynamiques propres à un marché en développement. Étudiant les usages au sein de la population hétérosexuelle, elle interroge ensuite les modes d’appropriation – sociaux et sexués – des sites et l’organisation des relations qui en découlent. Ce faisant, l’enquête révèle que, si les sites promeuvent les rencontres amoureuses, ils contribuent en réalité peu à la formation des couples, favorisant davantage une hétérosexualité non conjugale. La discrétion des rencontres en ligne, qui se déroulent en dehors et à l’insu des cercles de sociabilité, contribue à ce fait. Alors que les pratiques numériques sont habituellement associées à une publicisation croissante de la vie intime, les sites de rencontres participent donc d’un mouvement contraire de privatisation de la sociabilité sexuelle. Cette caractéristique des sites autorise une plus grande marge de manœuvre dans l’exercice de la sexualité, et ce en premier lieu pour les femmes, mais ne déroge pas pour autant au double standard de sexe qui structure les relations hétérosexuelles, sur Internet comme ailleurs. / Online dating is a widespread phenomenon in France today as well as an important topic of debate. Based on original empirical research, interweaving qualitative and quantitative methods, this thesis offers a sociological understanding of these sites. By first examining the production of dating sites, the thesis shows how a new economic market has been established – the dating market – whose different logics are then analysed. In particular, the high degree of standardisation of these platforms, as well as the more recent spread of specialised sites, are seen as characteristics of a developing market. Dating site use within the heterosexual population is then examined through an analysis of the different modes of appropriation – social and sexual – of the sites, as well as the structure of resulting relations. In so doing, the investigation reveals that although these sites do foster romantic encounters, they seldom result in couple formation, favouring instead a non-conjugal heterosexuality. The privacy afforded by online dating, external and unbeknownst to one’s social circle, contributes to this. Whilst the use of information technologies is typically associated with increasing public exposure of intimate life, dating sites thus have the opposite effect of rendering sexual sociability more private. This characteristic of the sites allows for a larger degree of freedom in the expression of sexuality, particularly for women; however, it does not circumvent the sexual double standard that structures heterosexual relations, on the Internet as elsewhere.

With the capacity to connect millions of singles through the virtual world, online matchmaking has altered the traditional, face-to-face romantic relationship initiation process. Users of online matchmaking sites have easy access to thousands of available singles and can communicate with partners before ever meeting face-to-face. Specific mechanisms by which online matchmaking environments operate are likely to distort both users’ appraisals of other users and users’ appraisals of themselves. This phenomenon in dating has left researchers to speculate about the effectiveness of romantic relationship initiation in such a context, and for relationships that are successfully formed online, whether the effects of online matchmaking extend beyond the relationship initiation process to influence the subsequent progression of romantic relationships. Seventy-five single men and women were recruited and agreed to subscribe to the online matchmaking site Match.com for 30 days. Participants completed measures assessing their individual background characteristics, sociosexual orientation, personality and attachment. In the event that participants scheduled a first date with someone they met through Match.com, they completed pre and post-date measures assessing idealistic distortion of, attention to, and ease of finding alternative dating partners. Upon completion of their 30 days in the study, participants completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing the degree to which they idealistically distorted themselves to other users and their overall satisfaction and experience using Match.com. Logistic regression analyses revealed that the more users’ distorted the vitality and attractiveness of dating partners the less likely users were to experience a second date initiated by the dating partner. Future studies need to consider that traditional models of relationship initiation are out-dated and not applicable to the study of relationship initiation and progression in the context of online matchmaking. Relationship researchers need to investigate: gender differences in filtering potential partners, the function of filtering in such a context, the developmental progression of filtering and the subsequent potential heightened importance of physical attraction verses the importance of compatibility in predicting relationship initiation in the online matchmaking environment. Additionally, future research should involve comparisons of various matchmaking services’, should utilize larger sample sizes and should follow participants for a longer period of time. / text

This thesis aims to map and describe how users of online dating servers use this medium. How do they self-present on dating sites and how do they create a profile. What is the motivation to use the online dating sites. For data collection, I chose qualitative research. As a qualitative method were used depth interviews with fourteen users of dating site Badoo. The work is divided into two parts. The first part will focus on theoretical concepts. Detail is devoted to the history of online dating, self-presentation, motivation to use online dating sites. Furthermore, the theoretical approaches discussed the relations in terms of evolutionary psychology and, ultimately, stereotypes. The second part is empirical. It deals with methodology, research questions, research strategies and especially the analysis of interviews. Based on interviews with respondents, I have developed several key categories, which are described in more detail the analytical part. This study describes the attitudes/ approach of respondents to categories such as motivation to use dating sites, self-presentation, communication and stereotypes which I have noticed in my research sample. The last part is devoted to a summary of findings and research results.

Comment rendre compte des transformations opérées dans le champ culturel par les technologies numériques ? Au-delà des grands récits technicistes, quelle entrée choisir pour observer les mutations induites par le numérique dans les rapports qu’entretiennent les publics avec les objets culturels ? Sur quels terrains se placer pour tenter de saisir les transformations issues de l’émergence d’une technologie hybride et protéiforme, sans pour autant faire de l’informatique une pratique culturelle « comme les autres » ou verser dans le déterminisme médiatique ?En pointant les doutes et les hésitations ayant marqué ce travail de thèse, en les examinant et en les contextualisant diachroniquement, il s’est agi de contribuer à l’analyse de la réception et des dynamiques culturelles en lien avec les technologies numériques. Cette réflexion, construite sur une longue durée, s’est attachée à l’exploration d’usages du numérique qui, en leur temps, semblaient devoir s’imposer comme radicalement « modernes ». Ainsi, en trois temps et trois focales nous avons choisi d’étudier des objets apparemment hétéroclites mais qui devaient témoigner des profonds changements culturels engagés par l’émergence des technologies de l’information et de la communication. Ce cheminement nous a conduit à étudier des pratiques aux statuts sociaux et scientifiques divers, depuis les lectures en bibliothèques jusqu’aux jeux vidéo en passant par les écritures intimes sur les sites de rencontres ou les blogs. Cette méthodologie nous a finalement conduit à isoler un élément transversal aux objets étudiés, et dont le déploiement est favorisé par les technologies numériques : l’essor des capacités réflexives des publics de la culture. / How to demonstrate how the cultural arena has been changed by the digital technologies? Beyond the pro-technologies discourses, how to examine the variation (inferred by the digital technologies) between the audiences and the cultural objects? Which field to choose to try to understand the transformations resulting from the emergence of an hybrid and protean technology, without saying that computing is a cultural practice like the others?Describing the doubts and hesitations of this thesis, examining and contextualize them over time, make possible to contribute to the reception analysis and the cultural dynamics, in connection with the digital technologies. This long work has been exploring the uses of digital which, in their time, seemed to have to grow on as radically “modern”. So, in three times and three focal length, we chose to study three objects, apparently heterogeneous, but which must show the deep cultural changes due to the emergence of information and communication technologies. So, we have been studying some practices with different social and scientific status, from the readings in libraries to the videogames, along with dating sites or blogs.This methodology has finally led us to isolate a cross-disciplinary element of the studying objects and which the display is favored by the digital technologies: the rapid development of reflexive abilities of cultural audiences.