Presentation by Stefanie Duguay, Jean Burgess and Ben Light at #digcult14, QUT, October 2014. http://digcult.org

1. Dating and hooking up with mobile media:
(towards) a comparative study of Tinder,
Mixxxer, Squirt and Dattch
Jean Burgess - @jeanburgess
Stefanie Duguay - @dugstef
Ben Light - @doggyb

2. #hookupappstudies
DISCIPLINES
STS + media & cultural studies (including queer media studies)
APPROACHES
platform and software studies
cultural histories of dating and media technology
cultural economy
cross-platform, cross-community and cross-purpose research
METHODS
Background research - e.g. crunchbase, tech press
Archival web research - media representation, self-representations and discursive
appeals to users
Walkthroughs, interface and textual analysis
Analytical focus on phases of use: Getting In, Getting On, Getting Off

3. The final computation of the subject’s S.Q.
is made by automatic machines, chiefly
through the means of electronic
calculators —the so-called electronic brain
— and punched index cards. The rating is
automatically printed on each card in
percentages.
When the final S.Q. has been noted on the
card, it becomes a comparatively routine
matter for the psychologist in charge to
“match” the male and female cards of the
marriage applicants.
The answer will not be simply
“compatible” or “noncompatible” but the
machine rather will answer in
percentages. Thus the electronic brain may
say: 90 per cent. Translated, this means that
the marriage will be in all likelihood, 90 per
cent satisfactory. The next two candidates
may rate only 73 per cent, and so forth.

4. Lesbian Cafe - early 1990s - EBB (Correll 1995)
French Minitel System 1982 - (Livia 2002)
Gaydar - 1999 (Light 2007, Mowlabocus 2007)
Internet Relay Chat - 1988 (Campbell 2004)
Match.com - 1993 (Arvidsson 2004)
Usenet - 1983 (O’Riordan 2005)
Squirt site 1998/mobile 2009 (Light 2014)
Grindr 2009 (Brubaker et. al. 2014)
From type to swipe...

5. Continuities & Discontinuities

6. Continuities & Discontinuities

7. The mainstreaming of location-based dating
services

8. Tinder, Squirt, Mixxxer and Dattch: market position
Tinder is the fun way to connect with new and interesting people around you. Swipe right to
like or left to pass. If someone likes you back, it’s a match!
• A game & “like real life, but better”
• Targets young, middle-upper class, heterosexual, urban-dwellers. Focus on
women; first marketed to frats and sororities
Hookups. Gay and bi hookups; Find straight or married guys; Real people, real profiles; Cam and
chat with horny men; Find your sexual match …
• Sex-positive community focused on “sex, fun and friendship”
• Targets men attracted to men
The Mobile Sex Finder. Looking for casual adult fun? Find local swingers and sex partners
tonight! All from your mobile phone.
• Targets adults with a range of gender identities and sexual preferences; promo
materials focus on heterosexual cultures
• Casual sex, not dating or friendship
With thousands of lesbian & bisexual women joining each week, Dattch is the most
popular social network and dating app to meet lesbian and bisexual girls. Loved by
AfterEllen, Autostraddle, Elle & Grazia, it’s the female answer to Grindr.
• Women only - specifically lesbians and bisexuals
• Friendship, dating, or sex
• Promotes itself through blogs about celebrities and lesbian culture

9. Business models
• Owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp; owner of match.com & others
• Some revenue from advertising profiles for TV shows
• No monetization plan firmly established yet but have discussed
subscription, advertising and freemium models
• Owned by Pink Triangle Press - Canadian gay & lesbian publisher
• “Freemium” model where users can pay for access to additional
features
• Owned by SocialSoft Networks - medium to large start-up
incubator targeting “under-serviced niches”
• Advertising plus “freemium” (for more connectivity)
• London-based start-up with ~$250,000 investment so far, ~3
employees, housed by Wayra incubator (Spanish Telefonica)
• Integrates dating/hook-up services with pink media

10. Platforms and ‘digital delegation’
iOS, Android; integrates with Facebook
“Yes, we use Facebook to make sure you are matched with
real people”
Mobile web/ HTML 5
“Currently, apps that contain adult material are not allowed in the App Store
or the Android Marketplace. Squirt does not believe in censorship. We are
pro-sex, and we celebrate sexuality.”
Mobile web / HTML 5
“Apple and Android have strict rules that their apps must abide by. By
avoiding their rules, we are able to offer our members a true “Adults Only”
experience, such as the posting of sexually explicit material.”
iOS, Android; integrates with Facebook
"From the outset we decided to check that every Dattch
user is female-identified.

11. Getting In: registration and onboarding
• Importing personal information

12. Getting In: registration and onboarding
• Constructing identity

13. Getting In: registration and onboarding
• Specifying physique, relationship configuration, etc.

14. Getting On: Browsing, searching and filtering
• Search specifications

15. Getting On: Browsing, searching and filtering
• Gamified dating, location-based selection, and community

16. Getting On: Browsing, searching and filtering
• Privacy, rejection, and limiting visibility

17. • Different modes of interaction
Shopping Centre
City Park
Getting Off: Matching and
Meeting Up

18. #hookupappstudies: what’s next?
DISCIPLINES
STS + media & cultural studies (including queer media studies)
APPROACHES
platform and software studies
cultural histories of dating and media
technology
cultural economy
METHODS
Background research
Archival web research
Walkthroughs, interface and textual analysis
Analytical focus on phases of use
NEXT STEPS
Multiple walkthroughs (different users,
multiple iterations)
User interviews including e.g.
screenshot elicitation, co-walkthroughs
Multiple app, cross-app analysis
Further platform studies work
(business model + affordances)
Ancillary digital media practices and
texts (e.g. Douchebags of Grindr)
Location-based participant
observation??

19. https://www.facebook.com/groups/hookup.apps.studies/

20. References
Akrich, M. (1992). The De-Scription of Technical Objects. Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change. W.
E. Bijker and J. Law. London, MIT Press: 205-224.
Arvidsson, A. (2006). "'Quality singles': internet dating and the work of fantasy." New Media and Society 8(4): 671-691.
Brubaker, J. R., M. Ananny and K. Crawford (2014). "Departing glances: A sociotechnical account of ‘leaving’ Grindr." New Media &
Society. (Forthcoming)
Campbell, J. E. (2004). Getting It On Online: Cyberspace, Gay Male Sexuality and Emboddied Identity. New York, Harrington Parker
Press.
Correll, S. (1995). "The Ethnography of an Electronic Bar: The Lesbian Cafe." Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 24(sic): 270-298.
Latour, B. (1992). Where are the Missing Masses? The Sociology of a Few Mundane Artifacts. Shaping Technology/Building Society:
Studies in Sociotechnical Change. W. E. Bijker and J. Law. London, MIT Press: 225-258.
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor Network Theory. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Light, B. (2007). "Introducing Masculinity Studies to Information Systems Research: the Case of Gaydar." European Journal of
Information Systems 16(5): 658-665.
Light, B., G. Fletcher and A. Adam (2008). "Gay men, Gaydar and the commodification of difference." Information Technology and
People 21(3): 300-314.
Light, B. (2014). Creating Pseudonymous Publics with Squirt: An Expansion of the Possibilities for Networked Publics. 35th
International Conference on Information Systems, 14-17 December, Auckland : 1-16. See: http://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2014/
(Forthcoming).
Livia, A. (2002). "Public and Clandestine: Gay Men's Pseudonyms on the French Minitel." Sexualities 5(2): 201-217.
Mowlabocus, S. (2007). Gay Men and the Pornification of Everyday Life. Pornification: Sex and Sexuality in Media Culture. S.
Paasonen, K. Nikunen and L. Saarenmaa. Oxford, Berg: 61-71.
O'Riordan, K. (2005). "From usenet to Gaydar: a comment on queer online community." SIGGROUP Bull. 25(2): 28-32.
Woolgar, S. (1991). Configuring the User: The Case of Usability Trials. A Sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, Technology and
Domination. J. Law. London, Routledge: 66-75.