Explorative study of African Americans and internet dating

Abstract

The online dating industry is estimated to be worth 1.5 billion dollars. The growing trends in technology have resulted in African Americans logging on to the Web at astonishing rates. Therefore, the goal of this research project is to evaluate dating orientated interaction in the context of virtual communities. The theoretical perspective of this thesis is that of the concept of trust, and I examine the role that trust has on dating oriented interaction in the context of virtual communities. This study utilizes both ethnographic qualitative research methods along with the survey research method to explore the topic of African Americans and their use of the Internet as a tool to find “quality or compatible dates”. This study also provides an examination not only of dating patterns among African Americans via the Internet, but it also provides an examination of the role that technology plays in creating and mediating dating trends. An additional interest is to evaluate dating orientated interaction in the context of virtual communities.