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I think that this is a poor strategy in general if you actually want to "solve" online dating. From the women's perspective, men who are willing to spend money
by scythe 2y ago
I think that this is a poor strategy in general if you actually want to "solve" online dating. From the women's perspective, men who are willing to spend money for a dating app are probably not more desirable than average, unless you raise the price so high (probably around $1k) it becomes a meaningful proxy for wealth, and even then that's a narrow market that is already saturated. The buzz about dating apps on male-dominated websites is that the experience for men there is bad (because few women), but a textbook microeconomic analysis insists that the experience must be worse for women, because otherwise they would use the app! The app UX is mostly a function of the opposite-gender userbase, so your options are constrained: you might restrict the pool of men by charging, but you consequently make the app less interesting to women, which foils your attempt to balance the gender ratio.
I could ramble further about how I think this happens and what to do about it, but there is one caveat: I have never — hopefully will never — used any dating apps. I rely entirely on what I've read from other people and my own limited understanding of economics and psychology.
- lmm 2y ago> a textbook microeconomic analysis insists that the experience must be worse for women, because otherwise they would use the app! "Worse" in the sense of providing less value to them, sure, but maybe women just don't want as much sex. And it's far from clear that having more men on the app increases its value to women (if anything it might be the opposite).
- PaulHoule 2y agoAlso see https://medium.com/@gettingfrankpodcast/kings-of-the-hill-how-the-top-20-of-men-rule-the-modern-dating-landscape-d80ade7eb0f5 https://medium.com/@gettingfrankpodcast/kings-of-the-hill-ho... and the problem that women often aren't attracted to men who will commit to them until it is too late, see https://www.amazon.com/Why-Love-Hurts-Sociological-Explanation/dp/0745671071 https://www.amazon.com/Why-Love-Hurts-Sociological-Explanati...
- 0xDEAFBEAD 2y ago>you might restrict the pool of men by charging, but you consequently make the app less interesting to women, which foils your attempt to balance the gender ratio. I think charging men could improve the experience for women, if men are denied a refund if they're banned for unwelcome behavior. It's not a subscription fee. It's a deposit ;-)