Denna uppsats ämnar studera människors användning av olika nätdejtingtjänster i avseende att kartlägga motiv och tillfredsställelser kring fenomenet nätdejting. Studien syftar även till att blotta samband mellan ålder, kön och typ av dejtingtjänst för att jämföra och dra slutsatser till vad skillnader i beteende kan bero på. De teorier som använts genomgående och som uppsatsen bottnar i är den positivistiska medieteorin Uses & Gratifications, samt den modernare påbyggnadsteorin Uses & Grats 2.0 som fokuserarar på dagens framväxande medier. I undersökningen har en kvantitativ forskningsmetod i form av en enkätundersökning valts, där urvalet består av 222 personer från uppsatsförfattarnas bekantskapskretsar och 515 personer som svarat på enkäten via nätdejtingtjänster som publicerat undersökningen. I fokus ligger de 656 personer som svarat att de någon gång har nätdejtat. Insamlad data har lagts in i statistikprogrammet SPSS och analyserats. Resultatet av undersökningen visar att majoriteten av alla respondenter nätdejtar för att hitta kärleken. Variabeln kön blottar inte särskilt många nämnvärda skillnader, men avvikelserna är däremot större mellan åldrarna. Personer över 30 år tenderar nämligen i högre grad att nätdejta med avsikt att hitta kärleken än vad de under 30 gör. De respondenter som är under 20 år nätdejtar främst i syfte att fördriva tiden. Majoriteten av de som nätdejtat har träffat någon från en nätdejtingtjänst i verkligheten. Omkring hälften av dessa har blivit tillsammans med någon de nätdejtat och lika många har någon gång träffat en tillfällig sexpartner. Resultaten tyder också på att det finns skillnader mellan nätdejtingtjänsterna, främst i hur gamla medlemmarna är men också hur många de träffar i verkligheten och vad dessa möten leder till.

The paper deals with the issue of getting acquainted and looking for a partnership with the aid of new technologies. The main goal is to show the impact of new media on the mate selection and, above all, to describe the course of a particular way of getting acquainted which is new to the Czech society, that is speed dating. The so-called mediated dating services - online dating portals and speed dating - are assessed in a comparative way. The empirical part is based on the analysis of dating websites and dating agencies. KEYWORDS: speed dating, online dating portals, mediated dating, mate selection, marriage market

Online dating is a popular phenomenon in the world. Since the main motivation for individuals to use online dating services is finding a partner, the communication strategies for the users to develop a relationship via online dating services and the different communication practices between online and offline dating are thought-provoking. This research aims to answer two research questions: what the communication strategies for online daters of Soul are and what the differences between online and offline dating for users of Soul, including communication practices are. These two research questions aim to increase the possibility of having a successful online dating and provide a deep insight into online dating. Based on the theoretical frameworks of uncertainty reduction theory, social information processing theory, and the hyperpersonal communication, this research interviewed 11 Chinese online daters in the application, Soul and observed their online activities. As a result, this research finds that when encounter with the potential partners, individuals will actively seek information to reduce their uncertainty. The most effective way is interrogation while the most common way is observing personal account. During the information-seeking process, the similarities including interests and hobbies are important. Self-presentation strategies contain the planning strategy, editing strategy, and the strategy of adaptation to the characteristics of the partner. Besides information seeking strategies and self-presentation strategies, individuals also use the long-term arrangement strategy. The differences between online and offline dating contain three aspects: communication practices of information processing (including information processing, communication patterns as well as communication attitudes), the imagined others through online dating communication and different social norms.

This research explored college students’ attitudes toward online romantic relationships and their intentions to develop this type of relationship. Borrowing elements from both social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action, this study introduced a model that combined perceptions of indirect past experiences, beliefs, attitudes and social norms and associations with people’s intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. Under the premise that people learn through observation, this study argued that when direct experience is lacking (as was the case with this sample), other sources of indirect experiences with online romantic relationships (perceptions of significant others’ past experiences and exposure to media messages about online romantic relationships) would relate to people’s beliefs about these relationships and their perceptions of what significant others think (social norms). Based on the theory of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that people’s beliefs about online relationships would then be related to their attitudes toward such relationships. Lastly, also under the framework of reasoned action, it was hypothesized that both attitudes and social norms would predict people’s intentions to form or develop romantic relationships over the Internet. The purpose of this study was thus to examine how well predictors from social cognitive theory and the theory of reasoned action explained intentions to form online romantic relationships. A pilot study was conducted to derive beliefs and attitudes toward online romantic relationships and to test the main instrument. In the main study, 226 college students with no prior direct experience forming online romantic relationships completed a web-based self-administered questionnaire. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was used to assess the relative importance and the strength among the different constructs. Results indicated that the overall model fit the data well. The final model accounted for 46% of the variance in people’s intentions to form online romantic relationships. Perceptions of friends’ and family’s past experiences with online romantic relationships were significantly related to people’s beliefs about these relationships. However, only friends’ past experiences was related to social norms. Exposure to media (news stories or ads about dating sites) was not related to either beliefs or social norms. Consistent with the theory of reasoned action, beliefs were strongly correlated with attitudes about online romantic relationships, and lastly, both attitudes and social norms emerged as instrumental factors in predicting participants’ intention to develop online romantic relationships. Overall, the findings confirmed the importance of integrating indirect past experiences in understanding people’s attitudes and intentions to form romantic relationships over the Internet. The theoretical and methodological implications of these results for the study and understanding of online romantic relationships are discussed.

The purpose of the paper is to give a detailed description to provide a better understanding of what strategies women use when online dating and in real life. The purpose of the paper is to identify how women create a sense of security for themselves, to make the leap from online communication to meeting an unknown male in the real world. For those two unknown people to take the step to meet each other face to face, there should be a kind of trust between them, how it is created, and what factors it is that determines that a meeting in real life will take place. In this essay, it has applied a qualitative method along with six thematically open interviews in which the informants have been women aged 20-30 years. In order to analyze the empirical approach, Sztompkas and Giddens's theory of trust and security have been used together along side Goffmans concept of front and backstage and other concepts are included as well. An analysis of the empirical material was found, the results showing that women often use fairly common strategies to create security in itself. These were as such, selecting a meeting place that is public and collecting information about the person they are meeting in advance using other channels of social media such as Facebook,Tinder, etc. This indicates that there is a general underlying concern about who the person really is on the other side of the computer screen/mobile screen. It also shows that the women are consciously or subconsciously using strategies to build up a sense of security among themselves before meeting with an unknown male. Keywords: Back stage, front stage, online dating, offline, online, role, security, social interaction, Tinder och trust. / Syftet med undersökningen är att bidra med en ökad förståelse för vilka strategier unga kvinnor använder sig av vid nätdejting, online kontra offline. Syftet med uppsatsen ligger i att identifiera hur kvinnor skapar en trygghet för sig själva för att ta steget från online till att träffa en okänd man i verkligheten. För att två okända människor ska våga träffa varandra ansikte mot ansikte bör det finnas en slags trygghet mellan dem, hur skapas den och vilka faktorer är det som avgör att ett möte i verkligheten sker? I den här uppsatsen har det tillämpats en kvalitativ metod tillsammans med sex tematiskt öppna intervjuer där informanterna har varit kvinnor i åldrarna 20-30 år. För att kunna analysera empirin har Piotr Sztompkas och Anthony Giddens teorier om trygghet och tillit använts i kombination med Erving Goffmans begrepp om frontstage och backstage samt andra som inbegrips i dessa. Genom en analys av det empiriska materialet påträffades resultat som visar på att kvinnor ofta använder sig av någorlunda gemensamma strategier för att skapa trygghet för sig själva, dessa var exempelvis: att välja en mötesplats som är offentlig, samla information i förväg om personen, användningen av andra kommunikationskanaler utöver Tinder etc. Detta pekar på att det överlag finns en underliggande oro för vem personen är på andra sidan datorskärmen/mobilskärmen, samt att personer omedvetet eller medvetet använder strategier för att bygga upp en trygghet hos sig själv innan mötet med en okänd människa. Nyckelord: Backstage, fasad, frontstage, inramning, nätdejting, offline, online, roll, social interaktion, tillit, Tinder och trygghet.

Dejtingmarknaden för ungdomar idag kan ske likaväl genom ett fysiskt möte ute på krogen som genom en spontan “gillning” via en app. Vi människor utvecklar metoder för att presentera oss på det mest attraktiva sättet för potentiella partners oavsett om det handlar om att redigera en bild eller stå framför spegeln i timmar. Med tiden har utvecklingen inom dejtingmarknaden gjort det lättare för interaktion med andra, från tidningsannonser till online-dejtingwebbsidor till en av dagens populäraste mobila app Tinder. Syftet med denna studie är att studera svenska ungdomars uppfattning om dejtingappen Tinder ur två perspektiv, dels deras uppfattningar om Tinders möjligheter och begränsningar generellt vad gäller att hitta en partner, och dels deras uppfattningar om sin egen samt andras självrepresentation. För att besvara syftet har en kvalitativ metod använts med semistrukturerade intervjuer som insamlingsmetod för det empiriska materialet. Sex intervjupersoner utgör urvalet i studien, tre män och tre kvinnor, där samtliga är i åldern 20- 25 med erfarenhet av dejting via Tinder. Analysen av materialet sker ur ett genusperspektiv huvudsakligen där utgångsteorierna är socialkonstruktionism samt poststrukturalistisk feminism. Resultatet av studien visar att Tinder som dejtingresurs upplevs som en app med enorm enkelhet där den negativa aspekten är rädslan över att individerna bakom profilerna inte ska vara den de utger sig för att vara. Resultatet visar även att de manliga intervjupersonerna kopplar självrepresentation hos kvinnliga användare till en identitet utifrån hur Tinder konstruerar kön inom “samhället” Tinder där mötet är en omstart då den inledande kontakten främst handlar om den fysiska attraktionen än den psykiska. De kvinnliga användarna ser däremot självrepresentation som ett sätt att inledningsvis framstå som mer självsäker och den fysiska relationen skapar en förutsättning för den psykiska. Detta resultat utvecklades även till en identifiering av en maktrelation mellan de manliga och kvinnliga intervjupersonerna där det finns ett samspel på Tinder mellan att ha makt över och att ha makt att vilket visar hur maktrelationer på Tinder skapas och omvandlas. / The dating market for young people today can be through a physical meeting out at the pub just as well as through a spontaneous "liking" via an app. We humans develop methods to present ourselves in the most attractive way to potential partners, whether it is about editing an image or standing in front of the mirror for hours. Over time, developments within the dating market have made it easier for interaction with others, from newspaper ads to online dating sites to one of today's most popular mobile dating app Tinder. The purpose of this paper is to study Swedish youths´ perception of the dating app Tinder from two perspectives. On the one hand, their perceptions of Tinder's possibilities and limitations in general in finding a partner and on the other hand, their perceptions of their own and others' selfrepresentations. To answer the purpose, a qualitative method has been used with semistructured interviews as the collection method for the empirical material. Six interviewees make up the sample in the study, three men and three women, all of whom are aged 20-25 with experience of dating via Tinder. The analysis of the material was conducted from a gender perspective mainly where the used theories were social constructionism and poststructural feminism. The results of the study show that Tinder as a dating resource is experienced as an app with enormous simplicity where the negative aspect is the fear that the individuals behind the profiles should not be who they claim to be. The results also showed that the male interviewees link self-representation of female users to an identity based on how Tinder constructs the gender within the “community” Tinder where the meeting is a restart as the initial contact is mainly about the physical attraction rather than the psychological. The female users, on the other hand, saw self-representation as a way of initially appearing more self-confident and the physical relationship creates a prerequisite for the psychical one. This result also developed into an identification of a power relationship between the male and female interviewees where there is an interaction on Tinder between having power over and having power to which shows how power relations on Tinder are both created and transformed.

Depending on technological progress and the nature of the actual period characterised by speed, individualism and the fragility of connections, there is an expansion of establishing relations by means of Internet social sites, especially among young people. Meeting people is not concentrated on specialized serves (Tinder, Badoo) but considering the diversity of functions and the amount of users, some people contact others using common websites like Facebook or Instagram. In virtual space, there is a risk of differences between online and offline self-presentation. Individuals tend to accentuate their strong points, and hide their weak points. Regarding the heterogenity of society, the space is occupied by people who expect diverse gratifications, which are reflected in their way of communication. The research is conducted by virtue of half structured interviews with the users of social websites between 20 and 30 years old. Those people profit from the opportunity of easy selection of a partner in a wide spectrum of various profiles without the condition of geographical proximity. As the weakest point of online dating they consider the occurrence of individuals with a deceptive virtual presentation of their identity. The illusion and subsequent disclosure of physical and moral differences can cause...

This study determines the religious differences associated with the perceptions, intentions, and usage of online dating amongst emerging adults. Symbolic interaction theory informs how the symbols associated with online dating impact perceptions, intentions, and usage among a sample of 447 emerging adults, between 18-30 years of age. More religious individuals were found to typically use online dating less, have more negative perceptions, and hold more concerns about online dating, showing that religious beliefs and norms may still associate online dating as a sexual culture rather than a method for finding dating or long-term partners. The association of religiosity and resultant relationships was found to be mediated by frequency and concerns about online dating, but not perceptions. As technology continues to grow and online dating expands to become more acceptable, more online dating sites related to specific intentions will likely arise. Implications for practitioners and future research are provided.

The master thesis looks at marital satisfaction and stability in Czech marriages between 2005 and 2015. The aim of the thesis was to find out whether meeting your spouse online or offline affects marital satisfaction and break-up rate (separation and divorce). The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on attractiveness, the characteristics of a good relationship, the development of marital satisfaction and existing research on online dating. A nationally representative sample of 316 respondents provided answers in an online questionnaire. The results indicate that one in three Czech marriages now begin online. Half of the online group met on an online dating site and 17 % on a social media site. When compared to those that began offline, "online marriages" were slightly less likely to end up in a marital break-up (31 % offline, 26,5 % online) and reported slightly higher marital satisfaction. However, none of these differences were statistically significant. The differences were higher when the online group was narrowed down to the ones who met on an online dating site and on a social media site but remained statistically insignificant. This group also retrospectively reported better fulfilment of their criteria for their life companion at the beginning of a relationship (p=0,041). In general, men...

AbstractTitle: How does people that meet online communicate? -An qualitativestudy of the media use for individuals that date online.Number of pages: 34Autohor: Malin JanssonTutor: Amelie HössjerCourse: Media and Communication Studies CPeriod: Spring term, January 2010University: Informatics and Media, Media and Communication ScienceUppsala UniversityPurpose/Aim: The aim of this essay is to see if mediea use changesthrogh time in a relationship between individuals that have metonline.Material/Method: Qualitative method with nine interviews divided into two groupsdepending whether the person is an actively dejting online or ifshe has a long term relationship with someone she have metonline.Main results: The use of digital media changes thorugh time in therelationship. The individuals stop using the net dejting whenthey meet someone. The digital medias are stage at the begginingof the relationship. Through time they use a multiple ofdigital medias but they have preferenses and prefers to use thetelephone both when they are communicating positive andnegatvie information.Keywords: Online dating, social penetration, process of getting to knoweachother, communication. Mediaded Communication, face toface communication.