Generation Gap: The Divide Between Dating and Social Media Profiles Across the Ages

There’s no denying that the current COVID-19 pandemic has triggered new behaviours online for people of every age. These will shape the way that we find partners and build love connections now and into the future. Yet, new trends can also create new risks for the modern dater. With more virtual encounters, users may be more inclined to ignore red flags, creating more opportunities for dating scams and allowing false profiles to rise dramatically. The question is, which age groups are the most genuine and security-conscious online?

In our latest survey with FTI Consulting, we learned just how generational gaps influence changes to behavior when interacting on dating apps and other online social networks. Let’s take a closer look at the findings.

Personas on Dating Apps vs. Social Media

Generation Z (18-24 year-olds) is arguably the biggest target market for online dating. In attempts to find a relationship, many young daters naturally want to show the best versions of themselves. However, this has created a divide between their dating and social media profiles. 20% of the online daters that took part admitted that they present themselves in a better light on dating platforms than on social media and Generation Z made up 35% of this.

Clearly, there is a disparity in what is being represented on social media and on dating profiles. The results show that Generation Z-ers are seemingly less transparent about themselves on both social media and their online dating apps. This ultimately causes a divide in the content shared on social media and versus what is presented on dating profiles. In this day and age, it appears that looking good online is the top dating concern amongst the younger generation.

Dating Safely From a Distance

Lockdown has changed the game for all ages and dating platform use has soared. Millennials (25-39 year-olds), in fact, are especially likely to increase their dating platform use (64%) if social distancing stays in place for another few months, compared to all users (55%). This may suggest that millennials are still confident, connected and certainly open to change. With that said millennials (89%) are also more willing to pay for background checks and verifications, compared to all current users (84%).

Meanwhile, Gen X (40-59 year-olds) finds it especially important to look up the profiles of the people they are meeting with online (86%) when compared to all users (80%). What is clear is an entirely new societal trend, ‘Generation Liar,’ where online fraud is not only committed in soaring numbers but is also expected by most people.

Dating in the new normal

2020 has definitely been the year of change and we can expect to see virtual dating sticking around for quite some time. What’s important is that dating in all forms remains safe in the new normal and beyond. This is where our technology comes in. By providing sophisticated background checks and verification, we can grow trust between profiles and improve safety. These measures are welcomed by users with 98% of online daters finding a reputation checker that pulls together all information sources appealing. This is not only important for the virtual world but also when we can return to physical dating.

RealMe’s technology can increase trust and validate data by checking for real users. Our extensive access to Reputation Profiles that include things such as criminal records helps providers decrease risks, for more genuine profiles and safer dating interactions – no matter your age or experience.

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