Popularity Feedback and Adaptation Strategies in Online Dating: A Social Comparison Perspective
通过两个随机田野实验，研究了在线约会平台向用户提供受欢迎度反馈（相对与绝对）如何影响其择偶选择性和自我营销策略，发现相对受欢迎度反馈会引发基于性别和受欢迎程度的不同行为调整。
Digital platforms are increasingly employing informational nudges to motivate user participation. This paper examines the provision of popularity information as a feedback mechanism and its impact on users’ adaptation strategies. Leveraging ego utility theory and self-determination theory, we hypothesize that comparative popularity information—information that facilitates social comparison—will trigger different reactions based on gender and popularity level. In collaboration with an online dating service provider, we designed and conducted two randomized field experiments in which we provided popularity feedback to platform users and investigated their post-feedback behavioral changes in two adaptation strategies: the selectiveness in choosing potential partners (i.e., selectivity calibration) and the frequency of their online profile modifications (i.e., self-marketing). In the first experiment, where we revealed information about their popularity relative to other users, we found that those who received low-popularity feedback significantly increased self-marketing efforts and lowered their selectivity, but the opposite was observed in individuals who received high-popularity feedback. We also found that men readily made adaptations to their selectivity calibration and self-marketing, whereas women’s behaviors were more persistent as they exhibited little strategic change. We then conducted a second experiment in which we revealed absolute popularity instead of comparative popularity and observed no significant changes in adaptation strategies. Comparing the outcomes of the two experiments, we argue that it is the social comparison information associated with comparative popularity that drives user behavioral changes.