ABSTRACT In this paper, we address algorithmic imaginary, perception and tactics of Italian dating apps users. Little attention has hitherto been devoted to the ways in which the algorithms employed by mobile dating platforms (to rate users, to manage user visibility, to arrange results) might contrast, or enhance, people’s homophily. Our goal is to explore whether and how mobile dating algorithms modify the perception of what we define as “relational filter bubbles”; and whether, and how, users believe dating algorithms reshape (extend or limit) the heterogeneity of their intimate interactions. The paper builds on literature addressing online dating, the datafication of society, the rise of the so-called quantified self, and of the algorithmic culture. We organized 4 focus groups involving Italian dating apps users, who reported a variety of sexual orientations and of dating apps usage. Overall, while dating apps’ algorithms operate in an opaque way, participants developed an “algorithmic imaginary”. Moreover, they appreciate the role of mobile dating apps in reinforcing their relational homophily (their tendency to like people that are “similar” to them), whilst, at the same time, mainly using these apps for increasing the diversity of their intimate interactions in terms of extending their preexisting networks.

中文翻译：

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“关系过滤泡沫”时代的约会：探索意大利约会应用程序用户的想象、看法和策略

摘要在本文中，我们讨论了意大利约会应用程序用户的算法想象、感知和策略。迄今为止，很少有人关注移动约会平台采用的算法（对用户进行评级、管理用户可见性、安排结果）可能对比或增强人们的同质性的方式。我们的目标是探索移动约会算法是否以及如何改变我们对“关系过滤气泡”的看法；以及用户是否以及如何相信约会算法会重塑（扩展或限制）他们亲密互动的异质性。这篇论文建立在涉及在线约会、社会数据化、所谓量化自我的兴起以及算法文化的文献之上。我们组织了 4 个焦点小组，涉及意大利约会应用程序用户，谁报告了各种性取向和约会应用程序的使用情况。总体而言，虽然约会应用程序的算法以不透明的方式运行，但参与者开发了一种“算法想象”。此外，他们欣赏移动约会应用程序在加强他们的关系同质性（他们倾向于喜欢与他们“相似”的人的倾向）方面的作用，同时，主要使用这些应用程序来增加他们在扩展其现有网络的条款。