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Aside: I'm in my late twenties and have used various of the currently popular dating apps on/off over the last few years. Whenever I see one of the old OKC blog

by bschne 4y ago

Aside: I'm in my late twenties and have used various of the currently popular dating apps on/off over the last few years. Whenever I see one of the old OKC blogposts around the internet, it's kind of striking how different the pictures look from what you'd see on the apps today. It's possible/not unlikely I'm overinterpreting based on the different style/fashion alone here, but it just all seems a lot less posed & staged, and like there's much more variance than with the pictures you see today, and even the extremely attractive examples seem much more natural.

jugg1es 4y ago
If you are saying that the profile photos on dating sites seem a lot less staged, than you are right. Good quality cameras on cell phones were not nearly as ubiquitous in 2010 as they are now. I think it was better back then because you could get a good sense of the person's personality from their photos than you can now.
- soylentcola 4y ago
  Also, it wasn't a given that you were only/primarily using it via a mobile app. I remember frequently browsing OkC and chatting with people on my computer during lunch. It was a lot more focused on saying things before they turned into another swipe/mobile-centric platform.
  - bschne 4y ago
    I just recently saw a documentary excerpt where two women were browsing and discussing profiles on a dating site in the early aughts — there sure seemed to be more info and more engagement with a given profile. Whether that actually led to better outcomes, I don't know, but the difference is pretty big.
AyyWS 4y ago
Article from 2010. Instagram was created on October 6, 2010. I bet it's related.
globular-toast 4y ago
Probably because online dating/apps are mainstream now. OkCupid was most certainly not mainstream. Online dating still had a social stigma even in 2010 and OkCupid was the one that geeks used. It was generally full of unattractive people. Some people now intentionally take and curate pictures for their online profile and even some of the most attractive people use it.

by bschne 4y ago

jugg1es 4y ago

If you are saying that the profile photos on dating sites seem a lot less staged, than you are right. Good quality cameras on cell phones were not nearly as ubiquitous in 2010 as they are now. I think it was better back then because you could get a good sense of the person's personality from their photos than you can now.

soylentcola 4y ago
Also, it wasn't a given that you were only/primarily using it via a mobile app. I remember frequently browsing OkC and chatting with people on my computer during lunch. It was a lot more focused on saying things before they turned into another swipe/mobile-centric platform.
- bschne 4y ago
  I just recently saw a documentary excerpt where two women were browsing and discussing profiles on a dating site in the early aughts — there sure seemed to be more info and more engagement with a given profile. Whether that actually led to better outcomes, I don't know, but the difference is pretty big.

AyyWS 4y ago

Article from 2010. Instagram was created on October 6, 2010. I bet it's related.

globular-toast 4y ago

Probably because online dating/apps are mainstream now. OkCupid was most certainly not mainstream. Online dating still had a social stigma even in 2010 and OkCupid was the one that geeks used. It was generally full of unattractive people. Some people now intentionally take and curate pictures for their online profile and even some of the most attractive people use it.