(dramatic music)
- [Narrator] How would your love life improve
if you could analyze data from dating apps?
25 million Americans used a dating app last year
and 2017 was the first year
that more new couples met online than in real life.
But have you ever thought about how the app picks
who they show you?
- Oh, hi, I'm Josie.
- [Narrator] This is my friend Josie.
She started to get curious about this very thing
after she noticed something peculiar about her swipes.
- There's a particular type of guy that I am looking for.
Asian American, similar interests,
and that I'm attracted to.
When I would swipe left on somebody
who was Asian American,
I would go like days without seeing one.
- [Narrator] The experience got her thinking
about the force behind the app, the algorithm.
Was this algorithm purposely not showing her Asian guys
when she would swipe left?
What did this algorithm know about her,
that she might not even be aware of?
And would she ever find a life partner,
with these algorithms in the driver's seat?
- Reaching my mid 30s and I am still out here
playing the same (beep) game
I've been playing since I was 20!
- [Narrator] So Josie decided to do something bold.
She asked for her data,
to see if she could hack her love life.
- [Director] Do you feel well-adapted to online dating?
- I mean yes, because I've been doing this
since 2007. (upbeat music)
I started when it was just websites,
and nobody talked about it.
Now it's apps, and everyone talks about it.
It just felt like it was the only choice that I had
to meet more people not just like the one person
that I stare at for a really long time
until they finally say hi.
'cause I won't. (laughs)
- [Narrator] Tinder alone has 57 million users globally,
with 1.6 billion swipes per day.
Josie works in tech and design,
so she's well aware of the information
that she's given to these companies over time.
But with all that data,
shouldn't the apps be better at tailoring matches to her?
- Yes.
- [Narrator] According to Marcie Rogo,
who formerly lead the dating and companionship app Stitch,
successful matchmaking may not actually
be in the best interest of the dating apps.
- The value of your dating app or site,
no matter how cool it is, different,
what the concept is, it's literally profiles.
- [Narrator] Lots of profiles mean lots of value
to the dating company.
- That's the rejection, just bang.
- [Narrator] But that means that a user
needs to sift through a ton of profiles,
hoping that they'll eventually meet their special someone.
- How many matches have you had on this?
- 1,775
- That's a lot!
- Apps are getting very smart by recognizing
that you swiped right on people of this race,
or this education level.
Whatever it is,
they bring you more people that you might like
as a way to keep you on the app essentially.
- [Narrator] This has people like Josie wondering
if apps really want users
to find the fulfilling connections they advertise.
- They have all of my information,
and they've not given me any advice.
Hi, give me my data, you know?
- California is about to get the strongest
online privacy laws in the country.
You'll soon be able to find out
just how much personal information companies
like Facebook and Google collect on you, sell to others,
and stop it if you want to.
- [Narrator] With new privacy laws in Europe and California,
a lot of big tech companies have to,
or will soon have to,
provide you with the data they collect on you.
- I think if we download our data from these dating sites,
we're going to be humbled.
I think human beings in general,
we say one thing, but we do another.
You know, you say yes I feel this way and that way,
and then when the data says something
it's totally different.
- [Narrator] Some dating app users have already
downloaded their data.
In London, Jack Ballinger, a data scientist,
asked eight of his friends to share
their Tinder data with him.
Jack isn't a professional matchmaker,
but using his friends' data,
he was able to chart the best time
for them to message people,
The ideal length of messages,
and the tone they should use when composing those messages.
- Josie and Jack interview, the A camera mark.
B camera mark.
- [Narrator] So we asked Jack to look
at Josie's Tinder data,
and compare it to the other 8 people in his data set.
- I saw in my data that like,
on one day I swiped on like, a thousand people.
Is that right?
- Yeah, yeah.
- Is that normal?
- Yeah, people do that.
- [Narrator] Jack gave Josie her other insights.
Noting that Josie was above average
in terms of message sentiment.
This means her messages
were happier than the average person's.
She's above average in terms of message length,
and that she only messaged one in three of her matches,
which is below average.
- Okay all of this is very illuminating.
I'm wondering what recommendations do you have for me?
- So looking at the data, be less, kind of happy.
Something I never thought I'd say.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, message people more.
- This is interesting.
I take this to be like, play the field.
I think that that's kind of the digital equivalent.
- Cheers guys.
- [Director] Cool, thank you!
- Bye! - Bye.
- [Narrator] We've entered a new era,
of people being able to download their data,
and do something meaningful with it.
What Jack did with Josie's data
may become commonplace. (dramatic orchestra music)
Companies may release more insightful data
into behavior and demographics.
With data scientists, therapists, and matchmakers
crunching all of these numbers, and giving insights
that help singles date with more success.
But there's still a problem.
These algorithms that we may think are all knowing,
all powerful,
actually have very little information on us.
Most stop at your basic demographics,
maybe they follow up if there's a match.
But by and large, people don't tell the app
if they actually went on a date,
hooked up, got married, had kids,
what they liked or didn't like about their matches.
There are all of these events and feelings
that never get fed back into the algorithm.
That's what a dating app would actually need,
to do excellent matchmaking.
What the apps are actually good at
is surfacing potential matches
in a manner and scale that's never been available before.
But people still have to do the work
of going on lots of dates.
- A lot of people, they are willing to go through
what's called a numbers game.
They are willing to go through three,
four, five dates a week.
'Cause statistically if you meet that many people,
it's very possible one of them is gonna be
someone you want to be with.
(disgusted yelp) (laughs)
- For me, I just want connection with somebody,
and there's no right way to go about getting that.
I don't know, like, I don't got game.
That's my game. (laughs)
- [Narrator] Our world is filled with things
that are increasingly convenient, or instant.
There's nothing convenient, or instant, about love.
Josie may someday return to the apps,
potentially armed with even more useful data.
But as of this recording, she's off the apps,
dating someone she matched with on Bumble.
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