First of all, I don't know about you, but I was influenced from a very young age to see these apps or sites as something that only desperate people use (old people, spinsters or the ones looking for a one night stand). So for that reason I always avoided them, although I was always a bit curious how they work and what motivates people to keep using them.
Let's put in the input data for the experiment:
- Age: in the 30s range
- Gender: female
- Picture: just headshot, decent but cute
- Profile: random answers to the personality questions
- Interseted in: males
- Apps used: Parship and MillionareMatch (both free accounts)
- Rules for testing: answer all questions honestly, but no flirting or chasing (e.g. guys had to approach first)
- Cut-off time: when they try to close the sale (a.k.a ask me out)
- Duration: 3 days/72 h (aprox.)
Now lets look at the results!
MillionareMatch: I chose this app, because I understood from other articles the quality is better due to the fact that they check people before letting them in the "club". After installing the app unfortunately I found out that there are no checks, they only try to gate it through a "premimum" version you have to pay for. But then looking at the "offer" for Germany, there weren't too many people there, and very few used premium and even fewer were a class that I could label as "elite" (and I'm not refering to finances, although they promote the app in that way).
Results:
Views: 8, Likes: 1 (you can not see the persons on the free account)
Matches: 1 (you are forced by the app to swipe left and right)
Direct approaches/chat: 1 (very nice and polite, but also slow in feedback)
Conclusions: If you are looking to date slow, I think this can be a good place. Germany doesn't have so many users (I understood in the US the situation is a bit better) but there are some in all age ranges. Although, the dominant market, I will be honest is older guys (and I also saw some gals on offer, don't know why). Also probably a paid membership removes some of the limitations, but that I didn't investigate. And if you are willing to approach first that most likely also helps a lot (as some are busy people and they don't have time to chase, but I had to follow the protocol).
Parship: another very popular app here is Parship. I chose it for the same reason as the other one: the quality of people that join (interested in forming real relationships, not just "fun"). It was also easy to set up, but it was a bit annoying with all those questions in the begining (when they set your profile). For the sake of the experiment I left everything on default. What I liked it that they do check your profile and pictures when you post/upload something. No nudity, vulgar images or language is allowed, a thing that I highliy appreciated.
Results:
Views: 20 Likes: 0
Matches: 0 (I didn't do any swiping, it was not required)
Direct approaches/chat: 33
Conclusions: The comunity is very active as you can tell. Also the people very responsive in the chat. And because I was surprised of the large number I did a small sub-experiment. I switched from the defaults (like single) to more complicated stuff in the profile (kids, divorce etc.). And I am not going to lie, there was a shift in "parameters": if in the first day the average approach age was 30, the next day when I changed the profile it almost imediately went up to 40, and the number of approaches almost halfed compared to the previous day. Regradless of that, everyone was very polite, only general topics / get to know you stuff. And in almost all cases I noticed the purpose was to get to meet you in person (conversations led to that sooner or later). The age groups most well represented are 30 to 60 (not so much below or above). Younger people are probably on Tinder, and I guess older generations don't really know how to use technology that much.
Another reason for people in their mid years using apps is that in Germany direct approaches are a bit risky or not taken seriously, as you don't know how the other person might react (especially for a guy approaching a gal, risk of harasment acusation is quite high). So in real life it's difficult to find a date, and thus the apps take off that pressure.
Final thoughts: The experiment was quite interesting and I have learned a lot. But for now I shall be wrapping things up and deleting the accounts. But for those of you out there who are lookig to find love, especially in these times or quarantines and restrictions, I would definitely recomend trying out some dating apps. Just stay simple but honest, answer in a timely manner, and most importantly have bounderies and communicate them clearly.
Also do not forget it's a number's game: if someone stops answering just move on, it's probably not the right time or the right person. And don't get hung up on someone just because you had a nice conversation.
Online apps can't solve humanity's love problem, but they can definitely ease bringing people together.
Thank you very much to @joshhild for the lovely picture.
Until next time, have fun experimenting life in all its beauty! ;)
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