Digital Love: Hacking the System

Editor's Notes

• #2: How many people do you know who have found love online? Did they meet their significant other on a dating site like OKCupid or Match.com? Or maybe it was on an app like Bumble, Hinge, or Tinder? Funny enough, Tinder has recently become one of the most common last names in the United States. As a digital brand strategist, I’m fascinated with digital love as it presents a huge opportunity for brands to connect with consumers in deeply meaningful ways. But the purpose of this presentation is to expose how individuals are finding love in unexpected ways online. How they’re using social media platforms in unique ways – ways for which these platforms were not originally intended.
• #3: So why are we interested in individuals hacking the intended purposes of social media sites to find love in unexpected ways? Love is arguably the most powerful force known to mankind. And because of digital, we are seeing love evolve along with our devices. Ultimately, we see a huge opportunity for brands to learn from these evolving digital love behaviors. To put it simply, when you can drive emotion, you can drive business results.
• #4: What do we mean by hacking the system? When we refer to hacking, we mean manipulating the intended use of a system or platform. For the purposes of this presentation, I am specifically looking at how in-love individuals are manipulating the intended uses of social media platforms, using them in ways for which they were not originally designed, to find love.   
• #5: Through primary research, I’ve found three fundamental elements that, when combined, result in individuals hacking social media to find love – in other words, manipulating the intended uses of social media platforms to find a romantic connection with another individual. First is a sense of unfulfilled love Second is some source of societal pressure placed on that individual And third are limitations with available social media platforms that prevent that individual from finding love on their own terms
• #6: We often see brands looking at social media through a one-dimensional lens – they look at the marketed and intended qualities, values, and design built into the social media platform. But there exists a much larger, more intricate part of social media beneath the surface – the hacked use of the social media platform – where arguably the most interesting insights around human behavior can be gleaned. This underbelly of social media is the focus of today’s presentation. 
• #7: What I’m about to show you are 3 examples of in-love audiences hacking social platforms to find love. The first example is called catfishing The second example deals with Chinese gamers finding love on gaming apps And the third example involves individuals finding love anonymously on social platforms For each of these three examples, I will explain 1. what the hack is, 2. why people are engaging in the hack, and 3. an example of a brand that is leverage the hack to further engage today’s digital consumer.
• #8: The first example of individuals hacking social media sites to find love is the cultural phenomenon known as ‘catfishing. 'Catfishing' is when individuals fabricate online identities to trick people into romantic relationships. Whether it's out of revenge, loneliness, curiosity or boredom, these individuals are scamming their way into romantic relationships with unsuspecting victims seeking love online.
• #9: The fabricated stories and photographs that these individuals present to the world often contain the experiences, friends, resumes and job titles that they wish were their own, providing a window into how these scammers want the world to see them. While the motivations that drive catfishers to fabricate their lives vary greatly, the satisfaction they receive from having total control over the way that others perceive them is a common theme.
• #10: An example of a brand tapping into this hack is Universal Studios. At this past year’s SXSW festival, the film studio promoted their upcoming movie, Ex Machina, by giving the main character of the movie, Ava, a fake profile on Tinder. The campaign reached thousands of unsuspecting festivalgoers who engaged with Ava’s Tinder profile thinking she was a potential match.
• #11: The second example comes from suburban China where stigmas still exist around online dating. Chinese societies are collectivistic (where as US is individualistic), meaning they emphasize family and group goals, before their own. This makes dating a community affair – lots of opinions involved! This combined with overwhelming societal pressure to get married, can makes dating in China a complicated process. In order to blend modern and ancient values, we see the emergence of gaming apps serving as ‘ice-breakers’ from which new relationships are forming.
• #12: Chinese singles are much more comfortable connecting with potential matches on platforms that are not explicitly designed with the sole purpose of online dating. Gaming apps provide a pressure-free environment that makes it less awkward for users to strike up conversations with potential interests.
• #13: The Chinese gaming app Pengpeng, which currently hosts over 300,000 daily users, tapped into this hack by unofficially serving the dual purpose of a matchmaker. On this app, users are connecting with fellow gamers who share similar interests and tastes. Ultimately, this app has filled a void by simplifying the route for people to find love in China in a way that is casual, comfortable, and not stigmatized.
• #14: The third example is around anonymous courting. Many anonymous apps on the market create a ‘safe-places’ for individuals to connect with others without fear of being judged.
• #15: Apps like YikYak and Whisper are allowing marginalized individuals to connect with others and find the support, validation and love they need, without fear.   Here we are seeing dialogues that often start out anonymously leading to conversations that are taken to messaging apps like Kik, where a piece of their identity is revealed and love can further blossom once a certain level of comfort has been reached.
• #16: Loveflutter is a new dating app that has tapped into this hack, using anonymity to feature personality first and looks second. The app intentionally blurs user profile images and overlays them with a unique fact users fill out about themselves. If you are intrigued by what you read, you can tap to un-blur and reveal the face behind the story.
• #17: As we can see, consumer hacks are beginning to influence brand behavior in a big way. From brand campaigns, to digital features, to entirely new platforms designed around consumer behavior. But as the number of hacked uses of social media continues to grow and change what is accepted and expected in the world of dating, we begin to ask ourselves to what degree are the behaviors influencing the platforms, and when do the platforms influence consumer behaviors?
• #18: While everything is designed with a specific behavior in mind, Behaviors will always change. No matter how well designed a platform is, there will always be organic behavioral change. This leads us to question even more… Is there a duty of care of the platform owners to not encourage certain behaviors that may be immoral or may be reducing love to the swipe or click of a button? For example, think of sites like Ashley Madison whose sole purpose is actually to encourage and enable adultery. (What is the right level? Is there a duty of care that designers of these platforms have to not reduce love down to a swipe and a click of a button? – provocative/rhetorical questions) (Peter Trainor – Ted Talk on “emotional release” “Tinder” Warrick University)
• #19: Every day, brands create experiences for consumers but oftentimes the consumer does not use the experience in the way that was intend by the brand. Successful brands will be those that are agile. Those that keep in mind that, despite designing a product for a specific purpose, users will likely end up using it for a different purpose. Successful brands will be those that capitalize on these shifts as opposed letting them to limit their success. (Being agile in way the consumers end up using experiences – a reminder to brands that you build something for consumers, at end of day that intended use might end up shifting) (- can capitalize – if ready and expecting those shifts, to be agile and) (These hacked uses of social media, and the brands that are leveraging these hacks to further engage users, point towards significant implications of behavioral change related to the way people form relationships with one another.) (Products and services are hacked every day, and when they are repeatedly hacked in the same way, a new purpose for that product or service often emerges, altering the original use of that product.) (It seems as though marketers may want to pay special attention to our love-driven hackers.) (As we’ve seen, when it comes to in love audiences, brands are already leveraging user hacks by either creating campaigns, altering their current platforms, or creating entirely new platforms based on these hacks.) (We need to understand consumer behaviors so brands can tap into this – here are ways consumers can hack into this) (Looking at unintended uses of user behavior – why this is important to have this understanding – universally acknowledged) (Online selves – behaviorally where people are engaging in these hacking behaviors – ) A simple lifecycle of a hacked product is as follows: You have your intended use of the product, limitations with the product emerge, the product is hacked, and eventually a new purpose for the product emerges.
• #20: The more companies and brands understand the hacked uses of their products and services (the edge cases and workarounds), the more opportunities these companies will have to build more meaningful connections with consumers. For example, niche communities can now find love like never before. Weave is the new tinder for professionals. OpenMinded is an app that was created for people looking for open relationships. Stitch is designed to connect people specifically over 50. There is even an app called Sizzle that literally allows bacon lovers to find love. (Netnography Netnography – why important, bring back to ethnography but now netnography) (- Without bringing back to digital personas, not getting the full picture) The reality is that digital changes the speed at which things change and can create incredible outcomes – e.g. neiche people can find each other like never before and it’s an exciting time – isn’t it exciting that triple amputees can (The more a companies and brands understand the hacked uses of their products and services (the edge cases and workarounds), the more opportunities these companies will have to build meaningful connections with consumers.) (When brands take the time to uncover and understand the countless ways individuals are hacking their products, they will likely discover and surface key moments and triggers to forge stronger relationships with their customers and ultimately increase brand love amongst their users.) Especially when it comes to in love audiences, our online personas are often vastly different from our in-person personas.
• #21: Ultimately, love will always find a way – despite the systems or structures society puts in place. We can only begin to predict what future hacks in-love audiences will develop around these technologies and what effect these hacks will have on human behavior. However, by identifying hacks that have yet to go mainstream, brands ultimately have an enormous opportunity to be first movers and engage with consumers in deeply personal and relevant ways before anyone else.