Romantic relationship initiation and escalation through mobile dating apps: Affordances, modality weaving, and paradoxical beliefs

Like online dating sites, mobile dating applications are popular technologies for navigating the dating market, whether for seeking romantic relationships or sexual partners. The searching-matching-interacting (SMI) framework describes mate selection in the dating market and how mediated market intermediaries (e.g., dating apps) can aid these functions. We conducted in-depth interviews ( N = 37) to explore dating app use during relationship initiation and relationship escalation, examining the SMI framework. For searching and matching, perceptions of affordances such as visibility, searchability, and locatability governed participants’ selection and use of apps. Examining the interacting function, our findings provide some of the first empirical support for modality weaving during relationship development. Rather than a simple modality switch from app to face-to-face, participants reported integrating multiple interpersonal and masspersonal channels, including social media, texting, and video. Channel transitions were made based on goals (e.g., relationship escalation, verification, uncertainty reduction) and perceived affordances (e.g., synchronicity, editability, bandwidth, accessibility). Notably, participants’ evaluations of the advantages and disadvantages of dating apps revealed several tensions and paradoxes among beliefs and behaviors. These paradoxes indicate why many users may not satisfy interpersonal goals such as hookups or long-term romantic relationships through mobile dating apps. Our findings support the viability of the SMI framework, and we extend its theorizing for studying relationship initiation and relationship development.