Local proximity
With location-aware mobile devices, we can now connect with people in our close vicinity for particular purposes. Dating apps are also referred to as ‘location-based real-time dating’ applications (Handel Shklovski, 2012 ) or ‘People-Nearby Applications’ (Van de Wiele Tom Tong, 2014 ) as they draw on the location of the user in order to provide matches in one’s geographic proximity. , 2015 ; Ellison et al., 2012 ), which could increase impression motivation.
Further, due to the issue of proximity, especially in the case of location-based dating apps, there may be less of a tendency to deceive potential matches, as there is a real chance that they will meet face to face and form a relationship (Ellison et al., 2012 ). Researchers describe this as identifiability or the ease with which an online identity can be connected to a known person (Blackwell et al., 2015 ; Woo, 2006 ). Due to this possibility, Blackwell et al. ( 2015 ) say users have ‘an incentive to present in an attractive, but plausible, light’ (p. 6).
Minimal filtering process
When it comes to choosing romantic partners, filtering works to screen potential contacts. Focusing on how people choose sexual partners online, Couch and Liamputtong ( 2008 ) describe filtering as ‘simple assessments of attractiveness and geography and physical proximity …