DeRijk2023
| DeRijk2023 | |
|---|---|
| BibType | INCOLLECTION |
| Key | deRijk2023 |
| Author(s) | Lynn de Rijk, Wyke Stommel |
| Title | Where to start? Initiating post-match chat interaction on Tinder |
| Editor(s) | Aino Koivisto, Heidi Vepsäläinen, Mikko T. Virtanen |
| Tag(s) | EMCA |
| Publisher | Finnish Literature Society |
| Year | 2023 |
| Language | English |
| City | Helsinki |
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| Pages | 127–147 |
| URL | Link |
| DOI | 10.21435/sflin.22 |
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| Howpublished | |
| Book title | Conversation Analytic Perspectives to Digital Interaction: Practices, Resources, and Affordances |
| Chapter | |
Abstract
Although Tinder is one of the biggest dating apps in the world, a core feature of the platform is still scarcely researched: the chat function. In this chapter we analyse how Tinder users initiate interaction with their matches. The data consist of post-match chats of 10 Dutch Tinder users, analysed based on digital CA. We found that initiating interaction is often done by launching a first topic immediately, rather than by other possibly relevant actions such as greeting, identifying, or initial inquiries, and that chats are opened with actions that critically elicit a response. In these topic initiations, users also tend to orient to originality and commonalities with the matched user. Our findings indicate that Tinder openings are strongly tied to the specific digital environment (profiles, the abundance of dating candidates) and to the goal of the interaction: flirting and/or getting to know one another. Making a response relevant is the key to initiating a potentially ‘effective’ chat, as this gets the conversational ball rolling. Doing so in an original fashion makes the user stand out from “the crowd”.
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