Is it Love at First Swipe?

Online dating sites are battling against each other to provide individuals with access to millions of potential dates everyday. In his book “The Paradox of Choice”, Schwartz questioned the assumption that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. The more choices we have, the less likely we are to narrow down and stick to one option. If this was the case, dating apps would leave their customers unsatisfied, and yet, there has been a surge in the number of individuals who are turning to the internet to find love. So what is it about these apps that are leaving their customers wanting more?

            Tinder is the latest big addition to the online dating world. It is an app that identifies available heterosexual, gay, bisexual, or “curious” partners in the vicinity, and requires users to judge the pictures of fellow Tinderers by swiping right (like the profile) or left (do not like the profile). With an estimated 450 million profiles rated everyday and membership growing by 15% each week, the app has witnessed a 400% increase in downloads in India over the past year. Further, in a country where women are seen as shy and reserved, it was surprising that they were found to be more active in using the application than men. This conceptualizes the perception of Tinder usage in India, and of the online dating world in general, where individuals consider these sites/apps as safe places to have harmless conversation.

            Tinder is “a fun way to waste time with people you’d never want to date in real life”. In our technosexual era, the process of dating has been gamified by technology, where the real pleasure is derived from the process of using Tinder. B.F. Skinner studied operant conditioning in order to determine how different kinds of positive reinforcements in our environment affect our future behavior. He found that when some form of positive reinforcement followed a behavior, we were likely to repeat this behavior in the future. Applying Skinner’s classical theory to the very Modern Tinder, one could say that the positive reinforcement of a match between two strangers on tinder increases the chances of swiping right. Clinical psychologist Dr. Wendy Walsh concluded that the whole concept of the matching game and texting each other had become so much fun that the relationship never moved into the real world.

            Tinder simply pulls out photos and basic data from Facebook; allowing users to judge others based on their appearance alone. This is exactly the sort of scenario that most women say they want to stay away from, and yet, the app is particularly popular among women in India. In a way, we see “the manifestation of our cultural obsession with appearance and attention deficits” through a process that mimics the arranged marriage system in our country. So whether it is in person, on Tinder, or through the arranged marriage system, the same principle seemed to be followed: seeking what we want and avoiding what we don’t.

            Rising education, urbanization, and the use of matrimonial sites has created a platform where “arranged marriages have morphed into a culturally appropriate alternative to online dating”.   The development of apps like Tinder provides a platform for women (and men, for that matter) to express their choice in an atmosphere that otherwise imposes severe restrictions. Further, it provides a safe place for young women to exercise their desire of looking for something casual that does not have to materialize into a long-term relationship. Therefore, even though an array of choices can lead to indecisiveness, the option of having a choice is a novelty to many in our country.

Nikita Wadhwa

Social Media as e-Word of Mouth & its Impact on Online Consumer Behaviour

Human Interaction has been increasing over the past decade, a phenomenon that has been synchronous with the advent of Social Media. Social Media (SM) is a term constructed out of two words. “Media” means to advertise and communicate information and ideas through channels or publications, while the word “Social” means interaction among a group of people or a community.

The rapid growth of online SM platforms has shifted the crux of real-world social interactions to the virtual world. This shift in preference of interaction modes has led to the creation of a vast online community that brings people together from all across the globe. With the ever increasing penetration of SM, a different form of word-of-mouth has sprouted into significance, i.e. electronic Word of Mouth (e-WOM).

E-WOM has emerged as one of the major forms of marketing communication among consumers. The online community of millions of people ensures that there is a constant flow of opinions, information and feedback on products, services, and/or organizations. E-WOM is defined by Hennig-Thurau et al (2004) as “any positive or negative statement made by potential, actual, or former customers about a product or company, which is made available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet”.

E-WOM is of particular significance in the purview of e-commerce and online shopping sites. In most cases, a potential online shopper will have their own set of beliefs and preconceived notions of a product or service he intends to purchase. However, owing to the perceived risk involved in online shopping, they tend to observe and survey experiences of others, preferably within their immediate SM network.  A study conducted by Archak, Ghose and Ipeirotis showed that though the reviews generated through e-WOM by SM users are subjective and unverifiable, consumers often consider them as more believable and trustworthy than official descriptions or propositions.

 A study by Park, Lee and Han discussed the role that reviews played in online shopping decisions. According to them, a product or service will usually have either a positive or a negative review. Each of these can be further segregated into an Attribute-based (Informative) or Simple Recommendation review. Another factor for a consumer to consider is the number of reviews for a product / service.  For a low-involvement consumer, a higher number of reviews give them an inkling of the perceived popularity of the product, positive or negative. Irrespective of the quality or quantity of the information, the overall sentiment of the reviews is usually echoed by the consumer, i.e. recommendation is of a bigger significance than information.

For a high-involvement consumer, informativeness of a review holds greater significance than its overall perceived popularity. Fewer attribute-based reviews that detail the elements of the product / service have a higher chance of influencing the purchase, relative to a high number of simple recommendation reviews. This may hold true for both positive, as well as negative reviews.

Given the connectivity of Internet, increasing penetration of online shopping websites, and the ever evolving SM ecology, consumers have the platform to easily discuss and exchange online shopping experiences and information with each other. This holds the power to influence not just the brand, but also the website of choice for a potential consumer to make his/her purchase. Such peer communication through SM is a developing form of Consumer Socialization, and has profound impacts on consumer behaviour.

Further research is warranted to understand the impact of information overload caused by the plethora of reviews. Another key issue for research in the future could be how consumers view reviews, with respect to its credibility. Organizations are known to remove or hide negative reviews, hence increasing the possibility of a consumer potentially doubting the excess of positive reviews. E-Word of Mouth on Social Media and reviews on e-commerce websites have truly recreated and evolved the shopping experience of consumers.   

  Jegannath Ramanathan

Why Malaysia Became Truly Asia

“Paris is always a good idea” - Audrey Hepburn

It was Hepburn’s quote that got me agitated about the difference between what tourist destinations are, and what they are made out to be. “Paris isn’t a good idea for the bold and fun-loving”, I thought. Paris was quaint, and romantic, and idyllic. But why would Hepburn pick Paris, and I pick Rome? What would you prefer? Are the destinations you like sophisticated or are they exciting, are they intelligent or are they charming? Much as you and I (and Hepburn, for that matter) would like to believe the answer to be something deeply personal about ourselves, it more often merely reflects a booming industry capitalizing on something called destination personality, and creating a destination brand.

“Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.”- Truman Capote

A destination brand is the consequence of the media-driven hype around a location. Think relaxing backwaters for Kerala, rave parties for Goa, and royalty for Rajasthan. This is what is sold to you, this is who they say they are, and it is what you eventually sign up for. A destination brand is, very simply, a concept that is supposed to summarize what a place is. A destination personality, on the other hand, represents a more emotional, personal aspect of a tourist destination. It encapsulates the human characteristics associated with the brand and is a culmination of the thoughts and feelings a location is said to embody. A destination personality, thus, is what makes a destination brand.

“Travel is impossible, but daydreaming about travel is easy.” - B. J. Novak

A destination personality is what ‘hooks’ a traveller into selecting a location. Stripping traveling of its romanticism, travel is simply a consumer market. And like any consumer market, buyers turn to characteristics of goods to determine how useful they are. In this case, destination personality becomes especially indicative when it comes to tourism. Most often, one has never visited the intended destination earlier, and is suddenly confronted with a host of novel experiences – new tastes, people, languages, directions, thoughts and ideas; layers of complexity making up the location. A brand personality therefore becomes a translator of these layers.

“Travel is very subjective. What one person loves, another loathes.” -Robin Leach

Destination personalities, by virtue of being a ‘personality’, do not have the same influence on each of us. The congruity between the tourist’s desires and the destination personality is what determines satisfaction with a trip. In other words, if you’re a Tokyo kind of person, the backwaters of Allepey might not cut it for you.

“Travel, in the younger sort, is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience.” – Francis Bacon

Another factor influencing the affinity to a destination personality is the individual’s social group. Younger, international travellers navigate towards exotic locations, and place an emphasis on ‘experiencing’ locations. Preferring exciting or rugged options, this group is aptly named ‘Novel Travellers’ by a recent study. Older travellers who rely on clear-cut information from official sources are called ‘Escapers’, as they tended to frequent places that they had previously visited. A jolt back to earth at this point - for both groups of travellers, even if there was a match between the brand personality and their needs, the decision to visit depended on other resources – such as money, distance etc. Traveling, therefore, is not all desire and personality, but is equally determined by the financial capacity of the traveller/s.

“Never go on trips with anyone you do not love” - Ernest Hemingway

Next, the relationship you share with the people you are traveling affects how you feel towards a place. The greater the quality of intimacy with your partner, the more the destination is enjoyed. This also guides the way destination personality is marketed – some places are marketed to be more intimate, and thus attract those kinds of travellers, Paris being a prime example.

“Every perfect traveler always creates the country where he travels.” - Nikos Kazantzakis

Finally, the way a destination personality is humanized is important, as destination personalities are very much a manmade concept. What creates a brand personality are 3 broad dimensions – sincerity (a place as being trustworthy and dependable), excitement (a place that evokes daring, spirit and is original) and conviviality (a place that is friendly, family-oriented and charming). With more places being ‘discovered’ and shown into the limelight, looking at how we create destination personalities is helpful in comprehending how we further the mass consumption of destinations.

“People don’t take trips . . . trips take people.” – John Steinbeck

If the boom of destination personalities has taught us anything, it is that tourist destinations ultimately have to sell an experience to the customer – travel has stopped being about ‘places and things’, and more about ‘who’ the place is. So, before you book your next tickets to ‘escape into undiscovered areas’, ask yourself what you really know of the place, without its personality.

Sneha Mani