Profile as promise: A framework for conceptualizing veracity in online dating self-presentations
Abstract
This research explores how users conceptualize misrepresentation (their own and others’) in a specific genre of online self-presentation: the online dating profile. Using qualitative data collected from 37 online dating participants, we explore user understandings of self-presentational practices, specifically how discrepancies between one’s online profile and offline presentation are constructed, assessed, and justified. Based on our analysis, we propose the profile as promise framework as an analytic lens that captures user understandings about profile-based representation through a qualitative analysis of their retrospective reflections.
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“…to expressing themselves (e.g., presenting oneself favourably, eliciting contacts for dating) - a self-serving objective that is not disentangled from other objectives of self-representation (e.g., the need to navigate between acceptable and intolerable misrepresentations in dating profiles [10]).”
- Authors
- Ellison, N. B., Hancock, J. T., & Toma, C. L.
- Affiliations
- Michigan State University (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Venue
- New Media & Society
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-06-27
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 45-62
- ISSN
- 1461-4448 (ISSN-L)
- 1461-7315
- OpenAlex
- W2123883881
- Cited by
- 326
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 37 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 24 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 23 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 10 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 21.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- New Media & Society (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Digital Communication and Language
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Privacy, Security, and Data Protection
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Feminism, and Media
- Keywords
- dating profiles, self-presentation, honesty, misrepresentation, online self-presentation, retrospective reflection
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