Tinder as a technological platform and dating apps as catalysts for social representations

Social Networks Sites enable new forms of relationships (Boyd and Ellison, 2007; Comunello, 2010; Boccia Altieri, 2012) and create new interaction contexts (Boyd, 2014). Given these premises, we propose to investigate the way technology used for courtship - particularly Tinder - influences the creation of social representations (Moscovici, 2001) and the construction of identity. The dating platform is a framework within which user develops self-presentation by implementing rational strategies. From the analysis of the emerging literature (Ranzini and Lutz, 2016; David and Cambre, 2016) there is a tendency to study dating apps mainly as a technological object, without going into the implications these can have in the way they shape relationships. On the other hand, in our opinion, those who have studied the evolution of social relations in this context have not fully considered the technological impact. Our work explores the interdependence between these two aspects: Tinder as a technological platform and dating apps as catalysts for social representations. Tinder is a location-based real-time dating app. This differs from similar dating apps for three main reasons: it accelerates a social trend making online dating socially acceptable; made the match system game-like and since” everyone has it” its users perceive it more as a social network site than a hook-up app. The key element of the interface is the swipe, derived from touch technology for mobile. Based on our set objectives, the evolution of the app interface and user experience will be analyzed through the concept of circularity (Manovich, 2001). In the preliminary phase, we will use exploratory focus groups to understand the set of expectations, attitudes, opinions, desires that guide user behavior. We will present the results of this first research phase and the resulting methodological framework. 2. The research framework: research question, objectives, method and phases The overall objective of this work is to explore the hypothesis of a circularity in the construction of the meanings that users share as social representations around dating apps. We particularly propose to investigate how the technology used for courtship, influences the creation of social representations (Moscovici, 2001) and the construction of identity. The object of the research is Tinder as dating app observed in the dual aspect of: platform and a framework within which user develops self-presentation through the use of the interface. To respond adequately to the research question, our work, which is configured as a single case study (Yin, 2005, 2014) on the Tinder dating app proposes four specific objectives:  Understanding how Tinder works as a technological object.  Understanding users' meanings and perceptions about appointments (understanding the meaning and perception attributed to appointments by users)  Understanding how the use of the platform influences and is influenced by social representations  Identifying the mechanisms that come into play in the process of building users' identities. It starts from a qualitative exploratory phase in order to adequately inform about the second quantitative phase by specifying the research questions and the variables that will guide it, in order to shed light on the scarce theoretical and / or empirical knowledge of the phenomenon (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2001). The presented research plan will follow a bottom-up path, therefore: the mix strategy emerges in the research practice to find adequate answers to the initial research questions, but it is also open to the formulation of new questions that come to be built up during the investigation (Thashakkori and Creswell, 2007). In this case, adopting a Case Study Research focused on a single dating app is extremely useful in capturing the dynamic aspects of the phenomenon that we want to investigate through the use of multiple sources of evidence. In fact, this research strategy is particularly suitable when the researcher has a limited control over the events, the attention is placed on a contemporary phenomenon in a real life context and the research questions, as in this case, are oriented to understand "how" a certain phenomenon develops (Yin, 2005). To respond adequately to the research question, a mixed-method of an exploratory type was developed (Amaturo, Punziano, 2016; Teddlie, Tashakkori, 2009; Bryman, 2006). It starts from a qualitative exploratory phase in order to adequately inform the second quantitative phase specifying the research questions and the variables that will guide it, in order to shed light on the scarce theoretical and / or empirical knowledge of the phenomenon (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2001). The presented research plan will follow a bottom-up path, therefore: the mix strategy emerges in the research practice to find adequate answers to the initial research questions, but it is also open to the formulation of new questions that come to be built up during the investigation (Thashakkori and Creswell 2007). By taking into account the objectives that the research aims to achieve, the work is divided into four phases:  A preliminary study on Tinder as a technological object and as a catalyst for social representations.  Synthesis of the previous results which enables conceptualization and construction of a survey.  Analysis of empirical data and further qualitative research.