New Media Case Analysis

Case A: Breeze  While looking over your company’s case I was intrigued by the concept of your application and the new approach for online dating. I think that Breeze could become the new online dating app of this year. I believe that if your company can keep your word about users spending “more time dating and less time on their phone” then I see it succeeding. While analyzing the application to determine the advantages and disadvantages, I encountered a couple complications along with benefits for the users. During these uncertain times many do not feel comfortable with in person encounters because they fear for their health. I think that because of this time it could hurt the launching of this application, although there are other critical reasons, but encountered findings that could bring satisfaction to this company. Starting with ways to improve this application I found that the idea of instantly setting up a date based on just the profile of someone can cause some issues. This regarding that the users are basing this entire date upon looks and perhaps a couple lines about the person. This could create an issue of not completely clicking with the person you matched with because there many other factors that come into play when looking for a relationship. Goffman (1957) mentions self-presentation and how it plays a role in relationships, this idea is in relation to the performance we choose to show on these dating websites and how we want others to see us (Alexopoulos 2020-1). The internet can be a deceiving place (like catfishing), so setting up a date right when a user matches with another can cause issues and maybe even dangerous outcomes. Ones username can give a performance that can mislead others and “signal certain qualities in online interaction (Alexopoulos 2020-1). Although these strategies are just possibilities it can provide sense of uncertainty with the customers that use this application.  Moving forward into the advantages of this application would be your company’s word of promising more dating rather than networking. This can bring many age groups to the application because it brings together users that rather spend time in person than chatting on the phone. Having a romantic relationship today can be hard being that 95% of United States adults are calculated to own or use technology like cell phones (McDaniel 2019). Communication between to loved ones can generally create jealously and conflict, so instead of getting to know someone online where one could get frustrated, they go straight to in person. I feel as though this application is allowing the users to get to know people, the way it used to be before technology, not having a screen in between you and getting to know someone can truly make a difference. I think that the idea of this application is a great way of bringing technology and old-fashioned dating together. This helps the users and couple get to the person through face-to-face interaction which is very important in a relationship. Case C: Bumble Bumble is a very interesting dating app that provides users with a new way of dating where the women make the first move but why do the men never respond? When users download this application they know going into it that women are the ones to reach out first because that is the nature of the app, so why sign up for something that you are not interested in? While analyzing the situation I came to a couple conclusions. These theories being perhaps the men that sign up for Bumble are the shy ones, not to confident so they want the girls to reach out to them, but in the end still do not know how to respond. Another theory being that men are looking for social acceptance and having the women chasing them helps with their confidence levels but do not actually want to pursue the women that are chasing them. Its as though these men are warranting the profiles of women, just investigating the user’s existence, and moving on with no contact. In a recent study by conducted by Brandon T. McDaniel and Michelle Drouin (2019), they dive into relationships and how technology effects them daily. McDaniel and Drouin found information that is relevant to your company’s issue, “women tend to perceive technoference as occurring more often than men perceive it” (McDaniel 2019). I found this interesting because the way I think about men on Bumble are constantly getting messages from women (which is exactly what is supposed to happen) and they are choosing to ignore it. It as though they had signed up for the attention that it would bring. They are getting more media attention than ever before because for anything to happen between the two matches the women must start the conversation. These men may see it to feel better about themselves or they are not paying attention to these potential relationships because they are to busy with the technology that is in front of them (technoference). To get men more interactive with the application I think that there needs to be more interactive things that the men need to do so that it keeps them interested in responding and getting to know others. Case D: Catch Feelings, Not COVID This idea for a dating app is genius, I think that it gets the users out of their comfort zone and forcing them to ask/say the important questions they need to, being that date only lasts fifteen minutes. This promoting dating even though no one can leave their homes to go out, so it is helping bring happiness to those who choose to participate.Reference List Alexopoulos, C. (2020-1). Online Dating 3. In Communications 310L (p. Slide 1-6). UMASS Boston.McDaniel, B. T., & Drouin, M. (2019). Daily technology interruptions and emotional and relational well-being. Illinois State University and Purdue University Fort Wayne. Retrieved 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S074756321930175X?via%3Dihub.