We study the structure of heterosexual dating markets in the United States through an analysis of the interactions of several million users of a large online dating website, applying recently developed network analysis methods to the pattern of messages exchanged among users. Our analysis shows that the strongest driver of romantic interaction at the national level is simple geographic proximity, but at the local level, other demographic factors come into play. We find that dating markets in each city are partitioned into submarkets along lines of age and ethnicity. Sex ratio varies widely between submarkets, with younger submarkets having more men and fewer women than older ones. There is also a noticeable tendency for minorities, especially women, to be younger than the average in older submarkets, and our analysis reveals how this kind of racial stratification arises through the messaging decisions of both men and women. Our study illustrates how network techniques applied to online interactions can reveal the aggregate effects of individual behavior on social structure.

中文翻译：

---

美国城市网上约会市场的结构。

我们通过对大型在线约会网站的数百万用户的交互进行分析，研究了美国异性恋约会市场的结构，并将最近开发的网络分析方法应用于用户之间交换的信息模式。我们的分析表明，在国家一级，浪漫互动的最主要驱动力是地理位置的简单接近，但在地方一级，其他人口因素也起作用。我们发现，每个城市的约会市场都按照年龄和种族划分为子市场。各个子市场之间的性别比例差异很大，年轻的子市场上的男人比女人更多，而女人则更少。少数群体（尤其是女性）的年龄也要比年龄较大的细分市场的平均年龄年轻，我们的分析揭示了这种种族分层是如何通过男女的信息传递决定而产生的。我们的研究说明了应用于在线互动的网络技术如何揭示个人行为对社会结构的总体影响。