Seeking a Last First Date: Strategic Self-Disclosure and Self-Presentation as Persuasion in Initial Online Dating Interactions

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The Internet today is central in communication functions, such as establishing initial interactions, maintaining early and subsequent contacts, and providing outlets for self-disclosure and self-presentation relevant to relationship initiation and development. Today’s busy singles are avoiding traditional bar scenes and increasingly turning to Internet services to find a partner. Popular dating websites include, but are not limited to, okcupid.com and pof.com (Plenty of Fish), as well as for fee websites such as eHarmony.com and match.com. Plenty of Fish claims 40,000 new singles and over seven million conversations per day. Match.com emphasizes increased matching success along with the largest number of monthly visitors at 12 million. eHarmony.com claims that an average of 542 eHarmony members marry every day in the United States as a result of being matched using the site’s compatibilities on 29 dimensions, including character and constitution, personality, emotional makeup and skills, and family and values.