OKCupid Admits To Purposely Giving Users Bad Matches In Site 'Experiment'

BUSINESS INSIDER - July 29 - Christian Rudder, one of the founders of OKCupid, wrote an enticing blog post called "We Experiment On Human Beings!" to lay out three different experiments the dating site ran on its users without asking for permission. In the most controversial experiment, OKCupid lied to users. The site took pairs of users with low match ratings of ~30% (the ideal match is 100%) and told them they were a 90% match. They also did the opposite, giving highly-compatible pairs of users low match ratings. OKCupid found, somewhat unsurprisingly, that more people sent messages to matches they perceived to be compatible with. But users also sent more messages to people they were actually compatible with, regardless of the match score shown to them, proving the efficacy of its matching algorithm, but also the role of suggestion in matchmaking.

by Rebecca Borison
See full article at Business Insider

See all posts on OkCupid

Comments

[Mark Brooks]

On the one hand, its so important to experiment.

On the other hand, holy s*&t batman! Shouldn't they have at least let users know after the fact that they were guinea pigs.

If you're going to mislead, at least make the period as short as possible. ...and follow up with another survey?! :-)

[The Companionator]

First of all, I’d like to question the ethical responsibility of experimenting with others emotions when OKCupid ran this test, but I can understand why everyone would like to know how important algorithms are when it comes to match making.

The negative consequences of an experiment like this could lead two people to establish a strong connection based upon the information you gave them, only to realize too late that after one or both has fallen for each other based on intentional erroneous information you gave them that their relationship was doomed to failure based upon dissimilar core values and interests to begin with.

In my opinion, algorithms used to establish relationships are like chicken soup – it can’t hurt - and it’s the best starting place known to social scientists at this point until we’re able to complete the mapping of the human genome to provide more accurate data.

Here are a few conclusions I’ve made based upon your experiments:

1. Pictures only reflect a small fraction of who the real person is yet it’s the major factor that’s relied on for judging one’s desirability or compatibility.

2. One’s opinion of another’s compatibility based on a photo is not reliable and very overrated, even though it’s the natural thing to do.

3. Regarding the reasoning for the blind date experiment - Having a better looking blind date may feed insecurities of not being able to match up, thus sabotaging the connection – (see “The Exchange Theory”)

4. It’s natural to judge a person’s desirability factor based on their looks when the inverse is more likely if it’s based on their personality.

5. The fact that a picture is 90% of the desirability factor (based on testing) of one’s profile can only lead to concluding that deteriorating looks as we age makes it so much more difficult to even establish contact with others the older you get.

I study love and attraction for a living, and in my opinion here are the 5 most significant factors:

1. Our primary socialization group (parents and siblings)
2. Our secondary group (childhood friends, peers)
3. Role models, heroes, personal and peer celebrity crushes
4. First boyfriend or girl friend – or one’s first love
5. Timing

Anyone can feel free to write me about this - I love talking and writing about it –

The Companionator

[Sean R. Hanover, Esq.]

As an attorney dealing with business law, I have to say -- this was a potentially bad move. You open yourself up to considerable liability if folks reasonably rely on OkCupid as an indicator -- and it was intentionally false. I'm sure there are all sorts of reasons for this, and the article was interesting -- to a point. But we deal with business clients frequently, and such risk is rarely worth the outcome. As we like to say in our line of work -- I assure you, there is another way.

[John V.]

IMHO, "Companionator", there's a SIXTH important factor to consider, only very loosely connected to your fifth, "timing". It's what I call "The Thousand and One" Rule which goes, "it probably takes a thousand things going right to give the possibility of a successful connection between two people in the first place, but it will take only ONE thing - if it matters sufficiently to one partner, the other, or both - to ruin the connection, regardless of those other thousand things".

For example, for a great number of people, the fact that a potential partner smokes like a chimney would *overshadow* all the good things, and immediately eliminate that potential partner from consideration. Similarly, for a non-religious, SERIOUSLY-non-pet-loving person, the fact that a potential partner is either deeply religious or the "owner" of a dog and cat (whose names and/or descriptions are proudly given in that person's profile) - or, worse (for our hypothetical person), both deeply religious AND a pet owner! - would also immediately eliminate that person from the "possible companion" sweepstakes, regardless of all the other positive attributes that DO match!

Of course, some of the factors that may constitute "the one thing" that overshadows all the other good things may not immediately be apparent (when screening profiles, for example), and may well take one - or many! - meetings for that one thing to rear its ugly head. It is my contention, in fact, that some divorces (of people who initially seemed very well matched) become actually inevitable when the partners become aware of "the one thing".

Just my $0.02 ...

[The Companionator]

Nice reply John -

You've added to my series of reasons why it's so much more difficult to connect with someone the older you get. Just one characteristic or trait can overrule all the other common positive interests and values - and that has a lot to do with getting older and more set in our ways. That's why it's important to keep all options open.

Typically sex is the glue that binds two lovers, but as we age, the urge to merge and procreate diminishes with age - which is another major factor.