"When I first started using apps like Tinder or Bumble, I could feel myself slowly wanting to be a solipsist," Joshua recounted, the dejection still palpable at 31. "People ghosting one after another or simply not responding...it felt like you were commodified and you saw exactly what your worth was."Growing up in the internet age, Joshua watched as meeting people shifted from the organic corridors of real life to the curated digital world. Even in high school it wasn’t unusual for friends on different niche interest forums, online games communities, or even Facebook groups to become more than friends. It was after college, as his in-person social circle shrank, that Joshua jumped himself to the ubiquitous dating app scene. "Dating apps make people think that their choice is unlimited in some cases, or that they are alone in the universe in others," 33-year-old Bostonian Anton told The Miilk. "The first kind get overwhelmed by options and cannot make rational choices, the second get desperate and blame themselves for what they don't control."Apps and algorithms have dramatically redefined how we pursue love and relationships in the modern age. The pool of romantic potentials has expanded exponentially, allowing people to meticulously filter for an alarming number of preferences at any time. But as the options multiply, so does the ease of casual rejection through normalized behaviors like "ghosting".The impact of technology on human connection has become a contentious societal debate. While some celebrate newfound ability to meet partners outside one's typical social circle, many others lament the soul-numbing fatigue and dehumanization of contemporary dating's supply-and-demand economics.What's clear is that apps and AI-driven algorithms have irrevocably shifted how people first encounter romantic prospects - from the off-line world to the online realm. This transition is still underway, as evidenced by dating companies now pitching generative AI as a solution to revive stagnating user growth. However, the impacts of deploying such AI remain unclear given the problematic biases ingrained in the datasets used to train these models.
미국의 데이트 앱에서 자기소개 프로필을 만들 때 흔히 보이는 즉문즉답 예시 중 하나는 이렇다. “만약 당신이 내 PC에 뜬 광고를 본다면 나를 이렇게 생각할 것(if you saw the targeted ads I get, you’d think I'm...)”.개인화 광고로 나를 소개하는 식이다. 알고리즘이 나를 정의하는 시대다.분명한 건 앱과 알고리즘은 사람을 만나는 방식을 오프라인에서 온라인으로 바꿨다는 점이다. 이는 지금도 진행 중이다. <지난편 보기> ① 연애에 완벽주의가 들어서다
데이팅앱 ‘틴더(Tindr)’ 등 40여개의 글로벌 소셜 앱을 운영 중인 매치그룹이 영상 메신저앱 ‘아자르(Azar)’로 잘 알려진 한국 IT업체 하이퍼커넥트를 17억3000만달러(약 1조9000억원)에 인수했다. 매치그룹 M&A 사상 최대 규모다. 9일(현지 시간) 월스트리트저널(WSJ)에 따르면, 매치그룹은 하이퍼커넥트 지분 100%를 17억3000만달러에 인수하기로 합의했다. 하이퍼커넥트는 이번 합의 이후에도 독립 경영 체제를 이어가며 인수작업은 하반기 중 마무리될 예정이다.이번 M&A는 경쟁사인 ‘범블(Bumble)’의 상장을 앞두고 전격 단행됐다. 범블은 2020년 8월 기준 글로벌 데이팅앱 매출 순위 2위 앱으로 ‘여성을 위한 데이팅’을 앞세워 1위 틴터를 바짝 뒤쫓고 있다. 매출 순위 4위 데이팅앱인 ‘바두(Badoo)’ 역시 범블이 운영하는 서비스다. 범블 설립자인 휘트니 울프 허드(Whitney Wolfe Herd)는 틴더 공동설립자로도 유명하다.