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Table of Contents

The Tinder Tourists – An explorative Study into the Motivations of using Tinder in Copenhagen Abstract

Why are tourists using Tinder, and who is ’Tinder tourist’? Drawing on the theoretical framework of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) as well as Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorisation of benefits sought (1991) this thesis explores the motivational field of tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen. Tinder is a global dating application, which is being used by tourists for a variety of reasons. To understand these reasons, the thesis approaches the field through a qualitative study, employing methods of netnography and qualitative face-to-face interviews. Through this approach and theoretical perspective the thesis draws out a map of a complex and manifold motivational field. It concludes that while tourists seek belongingness and love through their use of Tinder, they further make use of the application in a search for localness and self-actualisation. Most importantly the thesis argues that Tinder with its capacity of creating connections and expanding social networks is influencing, what is means to be a tourist in today’s society.

Prologue

In Copenhagen, Denmark, the field area for this study, I was having what I presumed to be a fairly standard Saturday night. I was at a friend’s party enjoying a few drinks when I overheard a conversation about the mobile dating application (app) Tinder. Drawn to this conversation I learnt they were discussing my friend’s fascination for tourists on Tinder. She went on to explain how she had met up with a man from South Africa earlier that day, spending her time with him; showing sites and places that she felt are unique and a must see for Copenhagen. Curious by this story my mind began to drift, I pondered of the possibilities, the downfalls and ultimately it lead me to question the motives for using Tinder in such a way.

As my questions got greater and deeper, I knew that more needed to be understood about the tourists on Tinder. The first question I needed to answer was: Are tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen? Or is my friend’s story something of a rarity? Setting out to answer this question I decided to download Tinder once again, (after having a two year break). I began my research through observing the profiles of females in Copenhagen, paying special attention to the 240 character bio; that is often used to describe the intentions and personality of the given individual (Braziel, 2015). As I ‘swiped’ through the profiles it did not take me long to recognise that tourists were in-fact using Tinder for a presumed variety of reasons. My observations found several profiles of individuals stating that they were just in Copenhagen for a few days. I continued the observations until I came across one profile that just left me perplexed. The profile stated: “American traveling across Europe, Be my tourist guide’” (Appendix, screenshot 1).

At this point I was stunned by her openness and yet torn by my attempt to comprehend what this meant for tourism. Whether I knew it at the time, these personal experiences lead me to begin my understanding of what I term as the ‘Tinder-tourist’.

With my initial curiosity and pilot research, I had uncovered that tourist are in fact using Tinder in Copenhagen. However, I still had not answered the question: Why are tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen? This puzzlement became the starting point of my master thesis.

Introduction

Reminiscent of Winston Churchill’s (1939) radio address regarding the actions of Russia, today technology is complex, much like “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” that is continuously being investigated and briefly understood before it changes once more. As each application is experienced, other innovative technologies rapidly emerge, enabling new utilities for users (Davis III et al, 2012). In the past ten years, a proliferation of differentiated services have shown this to be true, as micro-blogging sites such as Twitter, location-based services like Uber, and consumer review platforms including TripAdvisor have all worked collaboratively to provide a totally new and engaged media experience, which has now become more accessible through mobile devices (Reuben, 2008).

Undoubtable though, technologies such as Couch Surfing, Airbnb, Hostel World, and TripAdvisor have had tremendous effects on the tourism industry; warranting studies devoted towards understanding their complexity (Guttentag, 2013; Molz, 2012-2013; Santos, 2016; Tamajón & Valiente, 2015; Tolkach et al, 2015). At this current point of development and research, it cannot be stated whether Tinder has had or will have such an effect on the tourism industry.

Rather, what is interesting about Tinder is what it is not. Unlike technologies such as Couch Surfing and Airbnb, which are designed and focused towards the tourism industry (Molz, 2012), Tinder’s origins and company’s aim is centred on the pretence of dating and relationships (Braziel, 2015). Thus in the context of my initial observations as seen in (Appendix, screenshot 1), it becomes further relevant to question why tourists are using Tinder for their tourism purposes?

Furthermore in conducting an extensive literature search, I found that there is very limited and yet credible academic research based solely towards Tinder (Braziel, 2015; James, 2015). Although to reflect on the words by Winston Churchill it would suggest that tourism research has greater benefit studying the individuals who use such technologies than focusing on the technology itself. As Dann (2002: 6) states, by understanding the tourist it “provides a sociological understanding of that world”.

Thus in an effort to gather a greater understanding of that world, this master thesis bases its research towards exploring the why question. Hereby, I shift the focus from the ‘how’ aspects of technology; towards the ‘why’ concept of motivation, with there being a general

4 5 consensus, that a grasp of “motivation” tells us “why” an individual or a group have behaved or are about to perform an action (Dann, 1981: 202).

The area of motivation was first introduced into tourism studies in 1971, when Lundberg posed the question: What motivates tourists to travel? In the past four decades since its introduction, tourism studies have seen a proliferation of different motivation studies, explaining why people travel or why tourists participate in particular activates and to understand why people do these things (Kay, 2003). However as the world continues to shift and our demand for anytime, anywhere access to data grows (Molz, 2012), it becomes increasingly relevant to explore the motivations of tourists using technology such as Tinder. Thus this thesis is an explorative study benefitted from a field that is entrenched within tourism research.

This thesis is an ethnographic study of the tourists who use Tinder in Copenhagen. The thesis uses a theory based triangulation approach, whereby using two competing theories to test the validity of the findings (Porta and Keating, 2008). These theories are the needs based theory from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) and the benefit sought theory by Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991). It is believed through using both competing theories it will create a conglomerate of concepts that can strengthen the finding and move beyond the motivation for using Tinder while travelling, towards a deeper understanding of the modern day tourists.

Based on the questions I've asked during my introduction, the problem statement from which I will approach the field of Tinder and tourists are as follows:

Problem Statement

Taking a point of departure in the 'Tinder tourist' of Copenhagen, I aim to investigate why tourists are using Tinder during their travels. In order to do so, I will apply the theoretical framework of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as well as Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorisation of benefits sought, to analyze the motivational factors involved in this practice. Thereby, I wish to expand on the understanding of the modern day tourist, and thereby - hopefully - laying the foundation for future research.

The Field & Theory

The following section is used to create transparency within the research and give you as a reader an understanding of the field. Additionally this section is used to bring forward relevant concepts related towards the problem statement. These concepts although not used as the theoretical framework have cause and effect towards the directions and interpretations of data, thus giving it reason to discuss how and why of they are viewed in such way. Furthermore this section also attempts to create a grounding of this research, highlighting the relevance of the study outside of its academic nature.

Relevance in the Tourism Industry

To understand the importance of research from the tourism industries’ perspective, you need only look at the sheer size growth and reach of Tinder. From Tinder’s inception in 2011 it is now operating within 196 countries and has an average of 1.4 billion profile views per day (Tinder, 2015). This mammoth size, reach and use of Tinder in itself, warranting studies devoted towards understanding its appeal. With such a size and active use, it cannot go without questioning whether Tinder will play a disruptive role in the tourism industry to the likes of Airbnb and TripAdvisor (Molz, 2012). However as this can only be speculated, it gives reasons to begin studying Tinder in an effort to divulge the complexity of Tourists who use Tinder.

Further as seen in the prologue, it is clear that tourists are attempting to find tour guides over Tinder. With very little known about this occurrence, it can only be questioned if this tendency proposes a threat to the tour guide businesses of Copenhagen. Thus giving additional relevance for this study to explore this occurrence, discussing the conjectures, which may come forth from it.

Through the tourism industries perspective the greatest relevance for this study can be seen as the lack of explanation as to why tourists are using Tinder in Copenhagen, giving reason to question whether the Copenhagen tourism industry is adequately satisfying its customers (tourists). Therefore to understand if any of this reasoning may be true, a deeper understanding towards the tourists that use Tinder is needed. Hereby I argue that this

6 7 potential knowledge gap facing the tourism industry is giving relevance and grounding for this academic study.

What is Tinder?

Within this section I discuss the practicalities of what Tinder is, how to use it and the unspoken perception of Tinder, moving forward I discuss the academic understanding of Tinder, bringing to light relevant research held within the field.

Tinder: A New Way of Meeting People

Tinder in its most simple form can be described as a location based mobile dating app. It allows you to get in touch with and/or arrange dates with people that are within a proximity of 2km to 160km away, using the global positioning satellite (gps) found in users phones (Tinder, 2015). When searching for a potential date or connection, user ‘swipes’ through images of other users who fit the criteria that they have set beforehand. Within Tinder’s settings this criteria can be refined to the gender, age, sexual orientation and proximity of users, however as previous research suggest, it is likely that users have additional criteria for selecting a potential ‘match’ (Braziel, 2015).

Using Tinder individuals have a potential of three basic options. These options represent the user’s intent to connect with an individual or to ignore and view other profiles. This intent or lack of is represented through the options ‘like’, ‘super like’ or ‘nope’ (dislike).

For a user to inform the app that they ‘like’ a given individual the user must ‘swipe’ the photo to the right side of their mobile screen. Alternatively a user can press the green heart button found at the bottom of their mobile screen. Opposing this intent, if a user views a profile and does not wish to make contact they can declare this intention through the ‘nope’ action, which translates to the user either ‘swiping’ the photo to the left side of their screen or alternatively pressing the red ‘X’ found at the bottom of their screen. Recently Tinder has incorporated a third intent, which is a ‘super like’. This function is intended to represent a user’s extreme interest in connecting with the given individual. To perform this action, a user can swipe the photo directly upwards giving the ‘super like’ command or can alternatively press the star button found at the bottom of the screen.

Although a user may have selected their intent to connect (through the actions of ‘like’ or ‘super like’) this does not directly give access to start communicating with that given user. For individuals to start communicating over Tinder an action known as a ‘match’ must first occur. For a ‘match’ to occur both individuals must use the ‘like’ or ‘super like’ function on the respective profiles. Thus if I wish to connect with Hedvig to inquire about the possibility for an interview, I would have to perform the actions of ‘like’ or ‘super like’ and only once Hedvig has performed the same such actions a ‘match’ would occur, from which I can begin communicating to Hedvig over Tinder.

A presumed attractiveness towards Tinder can be seen in its function to create anonymity in its selection process. As a user there is no way of knowing if other users have previously viewed your profile and selected ‘nope’. The only way in which you are informed a user has viewed your profile is through obtaining a ‘match’ and/or someone has selected the ‘super like’ function (can only be performed once a day). Thus Tinder is creating a virtual arena

8 9 where both individuals must consent to connect or an unknown rejecting from either one or both parties can restrict such a connection.

Unlike many previous dating sites that are highly focused on personal descriptions (Ellison, 2006), the search for individuals to connect with on Tinder is highly based on appearance and the photos provided (Braziel, 2015). This means that people can go quickly through their potential connections. However this focus towards photos and images has raised questions towards the vanity in which users view and select their matches (Braziel, 2015; Finkell, 2015; James, 2015; Newall, 2016; Sales, 2015). To counteract this vanity, users are able to write a 240 character descriptions often used to describe themselves and their intentions (Tinder, 2015).

Recent newspaper articles have attempted to capitulate the essence of Tinder stating that it is a ‘sex app’, a ‘hook up app’, ‘the dating apocalypse’ and many other forms of the same (Finkell, 2015; Newall, 2016; Riley, 2015; Sales, 2015). Unsurprisingly the key majority of information concerning Tinder has been centred on what it means to be dating in the modern day world, and how Tinder is causing an effect on this practice. Through my academic literature search and outside pseudo scope, I found that very little attention has been put forward to the other functions, which Tinder consumers appear to be using the app for, ex tourists using Tinder (Appendix, screen shot 1). Thus it is very interesting to explore the arena of tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen for their tourism purposes.

However what we know about Tinder from a practical sense does not divulge an understanding of how to view or understand Tinder academically. The following section is used to highlight an academic understanding of Tinder, bringing to light theory that is relevant to understand Tinder and answering the problem statement.

Social Media

From an academic viewpoint Tinder can be described as a form of social media. In understanding what social media is, I draw my attention to the work by Davis et al. (2011). In this paper the authors highlight the varying degree of ambiguity upon defining and understanding social media. The study finds that both within the public and academic use there is often varying and disputed definitions and understandings of what we have come to know as social media. Despite this ambiguity it is commonly accepted that the term social

9 10 media comprises of the media used to enable social interactions. Munar et al., (2013) highlights that social media is a continuation of what we have come to know of web 2.0, whereby content is shared between creators and consumers (Cormode and Krishnamurthy, 2008). According to Davis et al. social media can be defined as followed:

Social media refers to web-based and mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations to create, engage, and share new user-generated or existing content, in digital environments through multi-way communication. Davis, 2011

A key characteristic, which is important to take from this definition, is that of user-generated content, with this being a non-traditional form of media development whereby individuals are the creators. This form of content is opposite to that of the traditional medias (news, radio, magazines and televisions), which have all been reproduced for the web (Davis et al., 2011). In social media driven by user generated content, the consumer is able to upload information, photos and communicate with other users, thereby shaping the functions and content of the media they user (Akehurst, 2008). Thereby the purpose of Tinder, whether a dating-app, sex- app or an app connecting tourists and locals, depends on the way the users are applying the app to their lives.

In addition to these features, SMT also contains design elements that create virtual social spaces encouraging interaction, thereby broadening the appeal of the technology and promoting transitions back and forth from the platform to face-to-face engagement (Davis et al, 2011). With one of Tinder’s primary goals being “to build products that bring people together” (Tinder, 2015), this face-to-face engagement can be considered of ever pressing importance in the design and use of Tinder. Furthermore this holds pressing importance in answering the problem statement. As without this feature and the other features that define SMT it is likely that the tourists search for local experience, friendship or love would be crushed and/or restricted by traditional methods.

Because Tinder is bringing people together, enabling communication and contact, Tinder can be perceived as an online community. According to Kozinets (2010: 10), an online community in its most fundamental sense refers to a group of people who share social interaction, and a common interactional format, location or ‘space’-albeit, in this case a computer-mediated or virtual ‘cyberspace’. According to internet pioneer Rheingold (1993 in Kozinets 2010: 8), who developed the term virtual community back in 1993:

..people in online communities exchange pleasantries and argue, engage in intellectual discourse, conduct and commerce, exchange knowledge, share emotional support, make plans, brainstorm, gossip, feud, fall in love, find friends and lose them, play games, flirt, create a little high art and a lot of idle talk.

Thus Tinder brings together a wide range of people whose communication can take many forms. Tinder is not a forum based on a single interest, like Star Trek, books or home cooking, but a diverse platform with the common link of bringing people together who wants to expand their network.

Bringing people together in a virtual world is often described a ‘connecting’. Bauman (2003, in Molz, 2012) argues that people now refer to social experiences in terms of connections and being connected, rather than in terms of relating and relationships. According to Bauman togetherness now revolves around ‘virtual proximity’ and ‘virtual distance’, which means that people can feel close, even though they are far apart geographically or feel disconnected, sitting right next to each other. In many ways Tinder is highlighting this way of thinking about relationships, as the core function of the app is to connect or match people, who might otherwise not have met. Users can connect to many people at once, changing between different conversations, while being bored at the party they are attending.

As argued in the above, Tourist using a dating app is not necessarily diverging from what it means to be a part of the online community, Tinder. In the following section I expand on the term “tourist” in relation to the purpose and problem statement of this study.

Who are the Tourists?

Whenever the term tourists is used there is often multiple interpretations and understandings of this term. The most commonly known and accepted definition of a tourist comes from the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) which defines a tourists as an individual who is outside of their normal place of residence or work for a period of one day up to one year away (Richards, 2008). Further studies have scrutinised this definition and expanded the understanding of a tourist to show the different types of tourists such as youth tourists, cultural tourists, leisure tourists, business tourists, etc. (Cohen, 2004, Csapó, 2012, MacCanell, 1976). In an effort to narrow the research and select a facet of tourists that is best suited towards the problem statement, this thesis focuses its understanding of tourists towards that of youth tourists. The reasoning behind choosing this facet are due to their pioneering use

11 12 of social networking sites and mobile media use on their travel endeavours along with their early adapter characteristics (Dionysopoulou & Mylonakis, 2013). Thus the term “tourist” will follow the WTO definition of a youth tourist is as follows:

Youth travel includes all independent trips for periods of less than one year by people aged 16-29 which are motivated, in part or in full, by a desire to experience other cultures, build life experience and/or benefit from formal and informal learning opportunities outside one’s usual environment.

Richards, 2008

Furthermore as the term “youth tourist” have been empirically tested (Adler, 1985; Richards, 2008; Vogt 1976) and defined by the WTO, it creates a stable base to analyse and understand tourists, with my understanding of the ‘Tinder tourists’ conversed in further detail within the discussion section. In the following I develop and explain the ‘theoretical toolbox’ of this thesis, which has been applied to the data collected during my fieldwork.

Theoretical Framework

Within this section I bring to light the theoretical framework, which will be used to guide the research, unpack and understand the data. I move forward, deliberating the theoretical overview of how and why these tools have been chosen, discussing their strengths and weaknesses, breaking down the main concepts, moving back and forth in an effort to show transparency in the theories. This process is most commonly known as following a hermeneutical circle (Porta and Keating, 2008).

Furthermore the overall objective from the theoretical framework is to show how the theories chosen are supporting, understanding and answering the problem statement. Theory in this thesis is interpreted as a set of interrelated concepts, which structure a systematic view of phenomena for the purpose of explaining or predicting (Liehr and Smith, 1999).

Motivations in a Tinder Context

While motivation is only one of many variables in explaining tourist behaviour, it is nonetheless a very critical one, as it constitutes the driving force behind all behaviour (Fodness 1994). According to George (2004) along with March and Woodside (2005) motivations can be considered one of the most important psychological influences of tourist behaviour. Existing literature pertaining to travel motivations is largely based around the

12 13 motivations before and after a tourist’s vacation e.g. (Poon, 1993; Ryan, 1997; Dann, 1981). As evident throughout the introduction and problem statement this thesis bases its focus away from these areas of research (before and after), and is instead focussing the research towards the motivations that tourists have during their stay in Copenhagen. Therefore it is important to ensure that the theoretical framework is capable of analysing the motivation of tourist during their stay in Copenhagen, more specifically the motivation for why tourists are using Tinder in Copenhagen.

As described briefly in the introduction, it is believed that by gaining a grasp of “motivation” we are told “why” an individual or a group have behaved or are about to perform an action (Dann, 1981: 202). This thesis takes the belief that through using motivation theories it will enable the data to be interpreted in a way that can give insight and explain why tourists are using Tinder in Copenhagen, delving further into understanding the motives of the modern day tourists, whilst highlighting areas that need additional research.

Two Theories

As this study is set within an exploratory nature and aims to investigate the motivations of tourists using Tinder, expand the knowledge of the modern day tourist, along with setting the stage for future research. This thesis sets out to use not one but two theories of motivation to begin answering the problem statement and analysing the data collected.

The theories selected are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) and Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991) categorisation of benefit sought. Both of these theories have been selected not because they are the most recent theories on motivations or that they are without flaws. Rather these theories have been selected as they have been widely used within tourism studies (Almeida et al., 2014; Berdan, 2014; Dolnicar et al., 2013; Murray, 1938; McClelland, 1955, 1965; Vroom, 1964) and due to their different conceptual interpretations towards motivation, thus creating a broader understanding towards the complexity of motivation. Further both theories allow for a very broad understanding of motivations and are therefore beneficial for this study’s aim of mapping the motivational field of Tinder and lay the foundation for future research.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

The most commonly used theory of travel motivation in tourism studies is based around the theoretical work by Maslow’s five-stage hierarchy of needs (1943). This theory gives a systematic approach to motivational structure. The needs proposed by Maslow are structured in a hierarchal order of motivation importance; ascending in motivational need. Maslow’s motivational needs are as follows, physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love needs, esteem needs and self-actualisation. Maslow believes that a person will attempt to satisfy the most basic needs first. When a person has satisfied a lower level need, it ceases to be a current motivator for that individual and the individual will instead try and satisfy the next most important need (Maslow, 1943). Examples of what qualifies towards these needs is seen in the diagram below:

Figure 1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (What is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, 2016)

Although theoretically a tourist could in-fact use Tinder to search for all stages of the hierarchy of needs, it is assumed that the majority of tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen have previously met the physiological needs of Maslow’s theory, although this assumption will be left open to interpretation depending on what the data shows.

Ensuring that this thesis allows for tourists motivations to be explored and understood in a manner that is coherent and comprehensible, this thesis applies Maslow’s theory to unpack

14 15 and make sense of the varying degrees of motivations, categorising a motivation to either/or several understandings of needs (physiological needs, safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem needs and self-actualisation). As stated by Kotler (1999) it is believed that a tourist will attempt to satisfy a lower need before attempting to satisfy a higher need (ascending in order). With this thesis choosing to ignore this preposition focusing on describing the motivations as put forth by Maslow. In doing so it is believed that Maslow’s theory is further focussed towards answering the problem statement, along with other studies indicating that motivation does not simply ascend in a perfect hierarchal order as Maslow’s theory depicts (Kenrick et al., 2010).

Additional criticism towards Maslow’s theory can be seen by Schiffand and Kanuk (1997) who believe Maslow’s theory to be sufficiently generic covering most lists of human needs. However with research towards tourists using Tinder in its infancy stage of academic research, this thesis holds the belief that it is beneficial to have a theory, which can cover a large arrange of human needs, mapping the motivational field of Tinder and thus laying the foundation for future research.

Benefit Sought

The benefit sought categorisation otherwise known as benefit sought theory is a theory based on literature review. The development of this theory uses over 30 studies to investigate the benefits which tourists wish to achieve from travelling. Within this study Driver, Brown and Peterson conclude that inside experiential benefits there are generally five categories, indicating which form of benefit a tourist is wishing to seek (Driver et al., 1991). With The theory of benefit sought being noted as better at predicting and explaining behaviour than other measures which merely describe it (Loker and Prude, 1992: 30).

Unlike that of Maslow’s theory of needs the benefit sought theory takes an alternative concept through how it interprets motivation. As the name suggests ‘benefit sought’, this theory of categorisation takes the belief that motives come forth from a desired outcome of performing an action or behaviour (Driver, Brown and Peterson, 1991). In simpler terms this theory takes the belief that almost all tourists’ behaviours are derived from a motivating benefit that they wish to achieve from it. An example of this is given below:

“I use Tinder, as it is an easy way to make friends”

Appendix, Interview 5, Patricia

Analysing this motive, using the benefit thought theory, it is assumed that the tourist’s motive for using Tinder derives from a benefit sought of friendship. As it is well known that there are alternative and more traditional means in which a tourist can acquire friends. Patricia however actively chooses to use Tinder in this endeavour, with it being interpreted through this theory that Patricia is motivated to use Tinder because it is an easy way to make friends and thus uses it for a desired benefit of friendship.

Like that of Maslow’s theory of needs, which has a systematic categorisation of motives, this is also true of the benefit sought theory by Driver, Brown and Peterson (1991). The five classifications, which Driver Brown and Peterson conclude are experiential benefits that tourists wish to seek, are as followed: psychological benefit, sociological benefit, psycho- physiological benefit, economic benefit and environmental benefit. In this thesis I will mainly be focusing on the sociological benefit, which in relation to this thesis’ topic can be described as benefits gain through the social world, such as improving one’s social status, creating a broader network, finding love etc.

The theoretical framework is applied to the data, which I have collected and treated through a methodological approach. I will explain this approach in the methodology chapter below.

Methodology

The purpose of this chapter is to show and reflect on how the methods and perspective employed to answer the problem statement, worked as strategic tools, which helped me to produce certain insights. Thereby this chapter should be viewed as a means to explain and describe the reasoning behind the philosophy of science, research design and choice of methods. Using this approach I aim to show how the methodological outset has been done from a critical perspective, discussing alternative means and limitations to the research. Furthermore an important point of this chapter will be to illustrate how my own position as a researcher shaped both the field and the data collected (Davies 2008:4)

Taking from Corbetta (2003: 12-13) social scientists make claims on (a) their ontological base, related to the existence of a real and objective world; (b) their epistemological base,

16 17 related to the possibility of knowing this world and the forms this knowledge would take; (c) their methodological base, referring to the technical instruments that are used in order to acquire that knowledge (Corbetta, 2003: 12–13). It is these three different paradigms that will base the structure behind my philosophy of science and will further become the discussion points of the first part of this chapter, interdependent to the problem statement of the research.

Philosophy of Science For this master thesis the aim of the research is threefold; the first is to contribute in a gradual knowledge generation of the motivations behind tourists’ use of Tinder in Copenhagen. The second is to expand the academic understanding of the modern day tourist and thirdly to highlight the future research needed to expand this academic field.

In beginning to conceptualise and understand the methods selected to address this research, it is important for you as a reader to first understand the paradigms in which I have chosen to write behind, along with the philosophical standing that this thesis uses. To take from Creswell’s (1998) work, the philosophy of science is the science behind the structure and methods used for gaining knowledge. Further the philosophy of science is a mechanism used to understand the nature of reality and the “reasoning from effect to cause and vice versa” (Teichaman and Evans, 1999: 4). Thus the philosophy of science can be said to be the skeleton structure of this research, thus allowing me to work from one paradigm to another going back and forth using the desired tools for the given paradigm.

In preparation to undertake further research (minus that of the initial observations of which can be found in the prologue), I consciously chose to ensure that the philosophy of science was done at the beginning of this master thesis. The reasons behind this approach are due to the influences in which the paradigms have on selecting the appropriate methods of approach for answering the problem statement.

Although before moving on it is essential to understand what is meant by the term “paradigm” within the context of this thesis. Using an academic understanding, a paradigm is described as a “set of basic beliefs” that works as a lens through which the researcher sees the world and understands it (Creswell, 1998). The paradigms work as the spine of this thesis, providing the research and analysis with methods, and further giving understanding to how I am influencing the research (Boeije, 2010; Guba, 1990).

Starting from an ontology paradigm we can see that it is related to the existence of a real and objective world (Corbetta 2003: 12–13). To expand this understanding ontology deals with the nature of reality, and whether there exists a reality external to social actors, or whether the reality should be considered as merely social constructions built up on the perception and actions of social actors (Guba 1990: 18). From this understanding the academic world has formed two main paradigms, thus being – objectivism and constructivism.

For the purpose of this research I have decided to use a constructivism paradigm. Within this paradigm I have a set of basic beliefs that there is an existence of multiple realities that lead to the understanding that a social phenomenon can be interpreted from different angles and approaches, specifically through the different realities from each individual (Guba and Lincoln, 1994). As a researcher, I consider knowledge to be socially constructed. As Guba (1990) points out reality is happening in people’s minds and the interpretations are numerous. As a researcher, I myself must be consciously aware that my interpretations of data are based on my own knowledge, which is socially constructed (Vanderstoep and Johnston, 2009). Thus context is considered of most importance since research on human activity must consider an individual’s situational self-interpretation (Flyvbjerg 2001: 47).

Alternatively if this research were to take an ontology paradigm of objectivism the main concepts of motivation would be perceived as static and a non-negotiable entities, as an objectivism approach asserts that social phenomena and their meanings have an existence that is independent of social actors (Bryman, 2003: 22). My current approach and problem statement would thereby become illogical and irrational, as tourism is a social science with the research aimed at “finding answers to the questions about the social world” (Newman, 2006: 2).

Thus in the context of this master thesis I am aware that the interpretation of motivation can be seen through multiple different viewpoints. Therefore to ensure that my interpretation of motivation is not clouded I have chosen to use two highly regarded theories of motivation (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) and the benefit sought theory by Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991)). As discussed in the theory section I have chosen to use both of these theories to create a method of triangulation.

Furthermore using a constructivism paradigm I am fully aware that it is impossible to draw casual-effect conclusions or to generalise, with reality only existing within each specific case and thus not being fixed (Guba, 1990). With this reinforcing Flybjergs’ (2001) view that context is everything. It is through these views that you as a reader must first start to

18 19 understand the limitation to what can and cannot be answered through this thesis. With the analysis and research based around the context of Copenhagen, this research can only provide insights that are geographically limited. This is not to say that the findings from this research may not be relevant in other geographic locations, but to understand this additional research will be needed to ascertain this.

Research Design

As already mentioned, the beginning of this research came about through an initial curiosity of the social phenomenon of tourists using Tinder. It is from this origin that has firmly entrenched this research that the study took an explorative form, which is posed towards an interpretive approach. In framing my study as an explorative research, I aim to approach the field of Tinder and tourists openly, rather than having a predefined hypothesis that needs testing (Kothari, 2004: 4) Furthermore by applying a qualitative, interpretive approach I allow myself, as a researcher, to interpret and draw conclusions based on the data I have collected. Because my interpretation will always be influenced by my perspective (background, time, place etc.) it is important that I account for and reflect on this position, as I describe and explain my choices of methods. As the sociologist Davies (2008: 4) highlights, reflexivity is a fundamental part of any study as the research results will always be artefacts of the researcher’s presence and inevitable influence on the research process-

The analytical findings of this thesis are based on a qualitative study, as this approach enables me to ask the why-questions, which are needed to understand the motivations of tourists using Tinder (Porter and Keating, 2008:299). As defined by Lincoln and Denzin (2000: 3): Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world. They turn the world into a series of representations, including field notes, interviews, conversations etc. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them.

I chose to conduct a qualitative study based on two primary methods: netnography and semi- structured interviews. However as I found my informants through my own personal Tinder profile, recruiting informants became a kind of participant observation, where I as a

19 20 researcher engaged with the media and the people using it. I will further expand on this point in the following sections.

Netnography.

Netnography is a qualitative technique, developed to the area of marketing and consumer research. As an increasing amount of our communication takes place online, it is important that the researcher studies the group behaviour and communication in online communities (Kozinets, 2010: 2) As Kozinets, a researcher who has worked extensively with the development of netnography, argues, netnography is essentially employing ethnographic methods to an online community. However the terms of accessing, interviewing and even observing means something different online, than when it is done face-to-face (Kozinets, 2010: 5).

In studying the motivations of the ‘Tinder tourist’, a netnography approach was employed from a mixed method approach consisting of: 1) A sample test 2) Observation 3) Recruiting informants for face-to-face interviews. Observation and recruitment of informants were done simultaneously, which I will elaborate on in the following section, where I also reflect on the terms of access and participation, when studying and online ‘dating’ community, such as Tinder.

Observation & Recruiting Informants

In approaching the field of Tinder through Netnography, I initially did a sample test in order to expand my insight into the frequency of tourists using Tinder. This was important in order to insure the relevance of my study. In total I did three tests where I ‘swiped’ through 100 profiles to see how many of these profiles were tourists. All three tests were conducted at 6 pm in the evening to insure compatibility. At the first test 8 out of 100 profiles were tourists, in the following it was 12 and in the third test 9 out of 100 were tourists. From this small pilot study I was able to confirm that around 10 % of Tinder users were tourist, and thereby qualifying the purpose of my study.

Further, I observed and recruited informants for face-to-face interviews. Because Tinder is essentially a community based on arranging dates and meetings outside the online platform, I found it relevant to go beyond the online forum of Tinder in my research. As netnography cannot provide exhaustive insights on any one topic employing the qualitative technique of semi structured interviews permitted me to gain a deeper understanding into the motives of using Tinder (Makono and Maxwell, 2014: 290). In this way I was able to broaden my understanding of what I observed online and get a Tinder member’s subjective perspective and sense of meaning (Kozinets, 2010:47).

Before I could start my field study I had to become a member of Tinder. As Kozinets (2010:93) writes it is important for the researcher to consider how they make their entrée into an online group. When creating a profile I carefully considered the tone of my text in relation to the kind of community that Tinder is. Thus I wrote: “Writing my thesis on Tinder. Just looking for a chat”. As I was studying a dating community, where people could be expected to be mainly looking for different kinds of relationships, I was worried about making it to formal and thereby running the risk of losing the viewer’s interest. However it was also important for me to not mislead the users to think I was a ‘regular’ member looking for a date.

In conducting my observation, I ‘swiped’ through the profiles of Tinder users, focusing mainly on their country of origin to clarify if they were tourists or not. Further, I directed my attention towards the subtext of their profiles to observe their personal descriptions and intentions for using Tinder. In this way I was able to produce insights into the tendencies of the ‘Tinder tourist’, and how they portray themselves and their intentions online. In performing this method I as a researcher can be considered a type of specialized “lurker”, ‘spying’ on the behaviours of an online community (Bowler, 2010; Kozinets, 2002).

Though when recruiting informants through Tinder, I had to become more involved and participate in the community. Just as any other Tinder user I was ‘liking’ the profiles of people, which I found interesting for the study, and hoping they would like me back, so I could get a ‘match’. Unlike other means of recruiting (telephone, email, etc.) I would only be able to establish contact if the person in the other end chose to press the ‘like’ button, when coming by my profile. All though recruiting informants in this way had some disadvantages and downfalls (see “Limitations”) it provided valuable insight into what it means to be a Tinder user. By recruiting my informant on the same terms, as any user would arrange a date or a meeting, I could achieve an embodied understanding of the way Tinder is practiced.

Approaching the field in this manner meant that I would inevitable influence the data collection, as my appearance on Tinder relied on the informant choosing me. However, as stated by Kozinets the researcher will and should to some extend always be involved in the online community of their study:

Data collection in netnography means communication with members of a culture or community. That communication can take many forms. But whichever form it takes, it entails relevant involvement, engagement, contact, interactions, communion, relation, collaboration and connection with community members – not with a website, servicer or a keyboard, but with the people on the other end. 2010: 95 Through recruiting informants through Tinder, I succeeded in conducting interviews with six tourists using Tinder. I will explain my strategy and approach to these interviews I the next chapter.

Semi-structured Interviews

Both parties to the interview are necessarily and unavoidably active. Each is involved in meaning-making work. Meaning is not merely elicited by apt questioning nor simply transported through respondents’ replies; it is actively and communicatively assembled in the interview encounter Holstein & Gubrium, 1995 in Davies, 2008: 109 In taking an explorative approach to studying Tinder, it was important that I approached the field openly, allowing the informants to influence the topic of the interview according to the themes, which they found to be significant (Davies 2008: 106). I thereby chose to conduct semi-structured interviews.

According to Davies a semi-structured interview is an interview form based somewhere between structured and unstructured interviewing. Different from unstructured interviews, which usually just happen as a conversation with the research in mind, the researcher in semi- structured interviews approaches the situation with some sort of list of topics or questions in mind. Unlike structure interviews, the researcher will be allowed to change his wording and alter the order of the questions to secure a flow in the interview. The researcher may introduce new topics and additional questions, which are not on the list, and the informant is encouraged to expand on their responses or even go off the topic and introduce their own concerns (Davies 2008: 105-106). Accordingly it was important to me to allow the interviewees to construct their own meaning of Tinder in the course of the interview.

When conducting semi-structured interviews it is crucial to pay attention to the context of the interview as well as the relationship between the interviewer and the interviewee (Davies, 2010: 106). Bearing this in mind, I chose to conduct the interviews in places, which would not propose too much disturbance. At the same time I was aware that I represented a stranger to the women who had agreed to be interviewed, and a private setting like my own home might have seemed a little too intimate. The interviews were therefore mostly conducted in semi-public spaces such as cafés or the library. Furthermore having arranged the interviews through a dating app, I was very aware of how the relationship between the interviewee and me, the interviewer, was being perceived. At one occasion, an informant acted surprised, when I after the interview said goodbye and thanked her for the participation. It turned out that she had thought the interview was in fact a real date. All though I had clearly uttered my academic intentions for meeting up with her, this example illustrates how Tinder is a complex field of motivations, which sometimes clashes, a point that will be treated extensively during my analysis.

Ethics & Limitations

Any research approach and field will have limitations and propose ethical questions, which the researcher must address. My choice of recruiting informants through Tinder proposed certain limitations that affected the outcome of my research. As my own profile was male I

23 24 could only get in touch with girls (or homosexual men, depending on my settings). However, I tried to get access to male informants by using my girlfriend’s phone to create a Tinder account. While including male informants would have provided a broader representation of informants to my study, I chose not to go through with it, as I thought it unethical to use a “fake” profile, and thereby essentially manipulating people into an interview with me.

It can be discussed whether an online forum such as Tinder can be considered a public or private space (Kozinets, 2002). Therefore, using the screenshots of personal profiles from Tinder proposes an ethical dilemma. To solve this dilemma, I chose to either exclude the photos or blur the faces of the screenshots that I am presenting in this thesis. Although first names and countries of origin will still be visible, I hereby ensured that the personal profiles are kept anonymous.

The field of studying the ‘Tinder tourist’ also offered certain limitations to my study. As many tourists were only in Copenhagen for a few days it was difficult to arrange a meeting. Understandably the tourists were more interested in experiencing the culture and attractions of Copenhagen, than spending a full hour being interviewed by me. I tried to consider this need by offering these tourists a small tour around Copenhagen in exchange for me asking them some questions. This meant, that while my study is represented by very different kinds of tourists, a majority of my data comes from tourists planning a long-term stay in Copenhagen. To insure compatibility I made sure that the tourist I interviewed had maximum spend two weeks in Copenhagen.

Analysis A community is not fixed in form and function; it is a mixed bag of possible options whose meanings and concreteness are always being negotiated by individuals, in the context of changing external constraints. This is true whether group members interact electronically, via face-to-face communication or both. Komito 1998 in Kozinet 2010: 9

In this chapter I will be analysing the data from my qualitative interviews as well as the Tinder profiles of female tourists in Copenhagen. The current chapter aims to create an analysis that is focused towards answering the problem statement. In doing so the analysis will be using the theoretical framework of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (1943) and the theory of benefit sought categorisations by Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991). These theories are

24 25 used to unpack the data, making sense of the complexity behind tourists’ motivations. However the analysis chapter also moves beyond the theoretical framework and introduces new concepts, such as trust or authenticity, that are relevant in order to explain the insights found within the data. In my approach to the analysis I am inspired by Komito’s description of a community. My analysis will argue that Tinder as a community is not a fixed entity but consists of multiple motivational factors, which form the community and the way actors (tourists or locals) give meaning to and interact in it.

The analysis structure is set up into two main chapters pertaining to two key themes in Tourist’s motivations in relation to Tinder. These chapters are “All Alone” and “Selecting a Beneficial Match”. Within these chapters the relevant theories are applied to the data interchangeably illustrating the insights and how they are relevant towards the problem stat. Like that of the theory, the data of netnography and qualitative interviews are also used interchangeably throughout the analysis, with the key structure being to support the main analytical findings, and by how these insights effect or answer the problem statement. Motivations are complex field, and it is important to underline that the motivations treaded in the present analysis, are all somehow linked or intertwined. Nevertheless a distinction will here be made for the sake of creating analytical clarity.

Permanent to the tourists Situation

Previous research (Crompton, 1979; Mayo and Jarvis, 1981) notes that tourists’ motivations are multiple, and people have different reasons to take either domestic or international vacations. In analysing the data that I collected it became apparent that the same is true for tourists’ who use Tinder in Copenhagen. The data showed that some of the motivations are of course individualistic and permanent to the Tourist’s given situation, such as Peta situation: “Not going to lie, mostly looking for someone to help cut stuff out for classroom displays”. With this self-confessed motivation being hard to dispute that it comes from an individualistic situation of Peta, who presumably is a teacher, needing help with her work. Nonetheless this example has been given at the beginning of the analysis to highlight the significance in which a tourist’s current situation plays effects into the motivators for using Tinder in Copenhagen.

However the analysis chooses to focus only on analysing data that has showed recurring themes, focusing on the general rather than the specific. This

25 26 is not to say that some data suggests other individualistic motives, rather due to the sheer complexity of motives, time and space, it is necessary to discuss and analyse the recurring themes found in the data. Moreover in doing so, it is believed that it will create a clearer representation of the motivations tourists have when using Tinder in Copenhagen and further a stronger representation towards answering the problem statement.

Chapter 1 – All Alone

Solo Traveller

In collecting and analysing the data, a pattern emerged amongst the tourists using Tinder. The data suggests that a portion of tourists who use Tinder in Copenhagen are solo-travellers. A solo-traveller in this case is to be understood as a person who arrives in a country alone (Foo, 1999). The following profile of Brittany hints that she is travelling in Copenhagen as a solo- traveller, with the text stating, “In Denmark for a week. Need a dance partner for Saturday”. Thus this text like other collected points towards there being a tendency of solo travellers to use Tinder. However, with this example the texts only hints at the likelihood that she is a solo-traveller, as it describes the fact that she is in need of an individual that wants to be her dancing partner for Saturday. Nevertheless studies have shown that solo-travellers are mostly young or female and /or have a high affinity towards adventure (Wilson, 2004; Yiang and Jongaratnam, 2006; Yonemaru, 2004; Buchanan and Rossetto, 1997; Loker, 1993; Chlaidze, 2000). Thus, giving rise to the possibility of solo-travellers using Tinder in Copenhagen.

Therefore a deeper understanding towards solo-travellers and Tinder is needed. Thankfully the qualitative interviews conducted provided deeper knowledge of this tendency, with all interviews being represented by solo travellers (Appendix, Interview 1 -6). Furthermore Læsser, Beritelli and Bieger (2008) who are business and tourism professors believe that individuals travelling alone (solo-travellers) tend to look for something new and desire (close) social interactions. These motives correspond with Tinder’s own mission statement which is centralised around empowering users to create connections that otherwise might never have been possible (Tinder, 2015). Thus tourists’ use of Tinder does not seem to contradict with the goals set by Tinder, but instead appears to agree with the hopes, Tinder

26 27 has for its users’ engagement with the technology. Thereby there appears to be very plausible reasons that Tinder could in fact be the technology enabling, the something new, and (close) social interactions for solo travellers.

In using Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to understand this insight it can be assumed that one of the motivations behind tourists’ use of Tinder would fall within the ‘belongingness and love needs’ and also ‘esteem needs’ (Maslow, 1943). Therefore to place this theme within the context of the problem statement it can be assumed that a motivating factor for why tourists use Tinder in Copenhagen, are due to the motivational needs to feel a sense of belongingness and friendship, along with the esteem needs of prestige and feelings of accomplishment when travelling alone (Maslow, 1943). Nonetheless this finding shows greater significance when accompanied amongst the remaining analytical points of this chapter.

New & in Need of Friends

I came here and my boss, who is young, about 35 years old, told me “if you want to meet anyone here you have to have Tinder”, and I said to her, “please. Be realistic, why would someone want to meet someone through an application”. It is very strange for me because it is not common in Croatia. Appendix, Interview 2, Karolina Common or not in Croatia, the data I have collected suggests that within Copenhagen there is a tendency of travellers to use Tinder for the purposes of meeting people. Much like that of being a solo-traveller the tourists’ situation underlines their motive for using Tinder. Like the situation of being alone can activate a need for belongingness and love, the situation of having just arrived can do the same. In collecting and analysing the data a large representation of tourists appeared to be in the same situation, with their motive being focused around creating friendship within Copenhagen. The following example highlights this motive further:

It was weird for me that I did not know anyone. So I decided to install Tinder and I have got it for one week now and I think. New people, alright. Appendix, Interview 1, Dagnar My data indicated that it did not matter whether the tourist was an au pair, exchange student, intern, backpacker, solo-traveller or here for a weekend visit. There was a clear tendency suggesting that tourists’ motive for using Tinder are related to their need for a sense of

27 28 belongingness and love, driven by their desire to create friendship (Maslow, 1943). The tourists themselves acknowledged how Tinder had helped them with this need.

I think it is good to find friends because by now I would not know a single person here and now I know a couple of people, and I really like those people (…) Without Tinder I would probably be still alone Appendix, Interview 2, Karolina Supplementing this quote Patricia simply says:

It’s an easy way to get friends.

Appendix, Interview 5, Patricia

Extending beyond the data from the interviews, the data collected through my netnography also supports this insight. The following screenshots display tourists outlining their motives for their Tinder usage. The screenshots supports the argument that there is a representation of tourists using Tinder for the purpose of meeting people in the hopes of making friends.

Many of the tourists in search of friends were international students or expats looking to create a network in Copenhagen, as it can be seen from Nadia and Katie’s profiles. Several are describing how long they are in Copenhagen for, and are voicing a desire to create new friendships. Some of the profiles were trying directly to make local friendships or acquaintances, as Katie, who writes: “Studying abroad in Copenhagen until December 13 so I am looking for some friends to show me how the locals do it.” Others, such as Tanya, comments on how they are only in Copenhagen for a few days, but would still love to meet new people. She further points out that these friends can be either locals or fellow travellers. She writes: “Message me your favourite hidden gem of Copenhagen”. Hereby she is hoping to gain not just friendships through Tinder, but tips and spots, which she might not able to find in the tourist guide.

Thus in placing this insight in the context of the problem statement, it suggests that a motive behind tourists’ use of Tinder in Copenhagen can be attributed towards the needs for friendship within the belongingness and love needs of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943). Furthermore as the data shows that tourists are actively searching to meet new people through Tinder, I argue that there is an additional motive, which is a presumed benefit sought of using Tinder in this manner. Thus an additional motive for why tourists are using Tinder in Copenhagen can be described by the benefit sought under the sociological category of motives in Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991) theory. The tourists are motivated by the application’s easy access to a network and new friends. The sociological benefit thereby plays a role in tourists’ use of Tinder.

Friends Only Very interestingly the data showed that the motives for obtaining friendship on Tinder often clashed with other Tinder users’ motives of dating and intimacy. Through analysing the data it became apparent that there is mixed believes by what and how Tinder should be used (Appendix, Interviews 1-6). Previous research on Tinder suggests that it is most commonly known as a dating and intimacy app (Braziel, 2015). Despite this pretence it appears that tourists continue to use Tinder for their needs of friendship, with all informants aware of Tinder’s reputation (Appendix, Interviews 1-6). The data collected suggest that there is a theme of individuals whose motive is based solely on finding friendships. This can be seen from Shanieu’s profile where she clearly informs: “just looking for friends”.

During my interviews this need was also apparent.

I am not into dating, for now. I just arrived here so my goal right now is just to have friends who can show me around (...) I think Tinder is a good playground for meeting friends. Appendix, Interview 5, Patricia

Patricia describes Tinder as “a playground for meeting friends”. To her Tinder is not a dating application, but an application for friendship. The quote by Patricia becomes interesting, when referring back to Komitos (1998) definition of a community, which was shown in the beginning of the analysis. Even though Tinder is created as a dating app, and can thereby be understood as a community of people searching for love, its meaning and use is not fixed, but defined individually by the people who use it (Komito, 1998 in Kozinets, 2010: 9). However the multiplicity of intentions on Tinder creates a platform, where the users have to navigate and interpret the motives of others, which is illustrated by the following statement below:

I tell them right away that I am only looking for friendship (...) If I see that the person thinks about one thing and one thing only, I am not interested. Appendix, Interview 2, Karolina

From Karolina’s Tinder practice we can analyse that different intentions, such as searching for love or searching for friendships, sometimes clash. Although the motive for friendship and meeting people has previously been discussed in New & in Need of Friends, it is interesting to observe that within Maslow hierarchy of needs ‘belongingness and love’ holds both the need for friendship and intimacy within the same category (Maslow, 1943). Although as seen through the data, tourists in Copenhagen do not categorise this motive as being the same. Thus for the context of the problem statement using Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991) theory of benefit sought, would appear to be the most reasonable theory in understanding the motives of tourists who are seeking only friends, with this being a motive of sociological benefit.

Boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other” Magee, 1977 In observing the tourists situation, they can be assumed to be outside the Danish culture due to their recently arrived nature within Copenhagen. In this situation of being outsiders they are not yet able to understand the language or read the cultural meaning as locals (Prentice et. al, 1998). My data shows how several tourists feel motivated to use Tinder because they have a hard time connecting with the world around them and are feeling bored. Taking the belief that one leads to the other, (thus fascination leads to boredom and boredom leads to fascination) from the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, it is interesting to analyse the role in which Tinder plays.

Psychologists Goetz, et al. (2013) believes that boredom is a frequently experienced emotion for all individuals, and therefor also for tourists. Further analysis indicated that there are a growing number of tourists who are using Tinder to escape their boredom, with the following examples highlighting this insight:

I often just swipe away when I am bored

Appendix, Interview 4, De

I was traveling alone, and the hostel was so boring (…) No one talked. Normally when I am travelling I like to talk to the people in the hostel and nobody talked to me and they didn’t speak any English or Chinese (…) So I was thinking maybe I can try Tinder to just talk to someone, as I want to talk to local people. Then I just tried and talked to them [people on Tinder] and eventually yeah. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin

It is interesting that Yuexin chooses to use Tinder, when her immediate surroundings fail to fulfil her social needs. Because she is unable to connect with her local environment she chooses to seek connections through Tinder. In referring back to Bauman, this behaviour can be seen as an expression of the way social relations function in today’s society. Togetherness revolves around virtual proximity, which means that you can feel connected to people who are far away, and disconnected to people right next to you (Bauman, 2003 in Molz 2012).

Underneath the feeling of boredom as a motivating trigger is seen from profiles of Tinder users:

Applying the theoretical framework to the data it is believed that tourists’ use of Tinder for the motive of boredom falls within the ‘belongingness and love needs’ of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943). Furthermore there is a sociological benefit sought upon analysing the data using Driver, Brown and Peterson’s (1991) theory. Like that of previous insight in ‘New and in Need of Friends’, the very fact that tourists choose to use Tinder in their moments of boredom, suggests they are seeking to be removed from this state. Giving boredom an additional insight in which tourists are motivated to not be bored whilst in Copenhagen turning to Tinder for the benefit sough of being fascinated (reverse side of boredom).

A Trustworthy Stranger

I know I want to travel a lot. So I want to choose somewhere safe and my friends recommended me Sweden and Denmark. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin

As the quote above highlights security plays a major part in the choices tourists make. Perceptions of security are key issues for tourists choosing a destination for their journey or what possibilities, they want to visit, while travelling (Boakye, 2012; Pizam and Mansfeld, 2011). In my research I found that perceptions of security or feeling secure were a highly

32 33 influential motivational factor in tourists’ use of Tinder. They perceived Tinder as a safe way of meeting new people. As Yuexin, a tourist travelling through Europe, points out, Denmark can be perceived as a safe country. However, safety percussions were still a concern for the solo travellers using Tinder.

A study carried out by researchers Eyal Ert, Aliza Fleischer and Nathan Magen (2016) on issues of trust in tourists’ use of sharing economy platforms, argues that tourists are exposing themselves to risk. They point to the platform Couch Surfing where locals are offering to accommodate tourists, but sharing a home with a stranger will essentially involve some kind of risk (Ert et al., 2016). In the later years there have been several examples of assaults happening through these kinds of sharing platforms. For this reason creating a sense of safety and trust are especially important when facilitating a meeting between strangers. A way of enhancing the trust of users can be through photos or text giving the users a possibility to form an initial impression and make a risk assessment (Ert et. al, 2016). A photo or a piece text has the power to facilitate a sense of trust by reducing anonymity and increasing social presence (Ert et al., 2016). An example of this practice can be seen in Karolina’s story:

We talked on the application, and I wouldn’t go to meet a person if I thought the person would be weird or aggressive, I mean. So the people I have met I thought that they were nice and then we met. Appendix, Interview 2, Karolina

Karolina describes how talking through the application gives her a chance to form an opinion of the person she might be meeting up with. In this process the stranger becomes less strange and she is able to evaluate whether they seem weird, aggressive or nice. In this way she can assess whether she feels safe meeting up with them.

Applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we are able to see how Tinder fulfils a motivational need for the tourists, by creating a sense of safety and security. According to Maslow security is one of the fundamental basic needs that people usually will attempt to acquire before anything else (Maslow, 1943). Trusting Maslow’s argument and applying it to my data, this means that the ‘Tinder tourist’ must first of all feel a sense of security from using Tinder. The functions of the app, such as photos and the possibility of an initial talk or exchange of intent can supply the tourist with a feeling of safety. This point is further illustrated in the below statement by Yuexin.

He was asking to go out for drink, but it was 12 at night so I did not go.

Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin

In a new country and culture of mainly strangers, it can be difficult to find new friends and read their intentions, but in this case Tinder offers Yuexin an option to navigate in those intentions. In this case, the fact that someone wants to meet up at 12 at night to Yuexin means that they might not be looking for friendship or might be dangerous, and she is able to steer around them. Thus Tinder permits the tourist to feel a sense of security because by photos and text they are able to reduce the anonymity.

However, feelings of safety do not necessarily entail that you are safe (Boakye, 2012). In stead feelings of safety are entangled with issues of trust. The tourists who use Tinder are motivated to do so, as they by using the app, feel that they can trust the person, and thereby feel safe when they meet them. This suggests that information plays a key part in facilitating trust. Professor Bart Nooteboom argues:

Trust is not all-or-nothing. There are degrees of trust, though the degree is difficult and perhaps fundamentally impossible to measure. In trust there is a paradox of information. On the one hand trust presupposes lack of information. If one were 100% sure, one would no longer speak of trust. On the other hand, trust is based on information, e.g. on experience, reputation, insight into the motives and conditions of trust. Nooteboom, 2012: 11

As stated here by Nooteboom, trust is based on information. The tourist needs information to feel that they can trust the strangers they meet through Tinder. Nevertheless, Trust has a paradoxical nature, as it would not even be an issue when trust is actually present. In the same way the tourist’s use of Tinder appears paradoxical:

There are a lot of creepy guys that are like, “let’s make stupid decisions together”, “oh you are my kind of girl. Do you want to make stupid decisions together?” In the two days of having Tinder I would say I have met about 10 creepy guys. Appendix, Interview 5, Patricia

From being able to scroll through Tinder the tourist is discovering how many “creepy” guys are out there. Even though Tinder by providing information helps the tourist to gain trust and feel secure, it also makes the tourist aware of the many guys that are not to be trusted.

Thus, trust is an essential motivating factor and comes to show in relation to feeling secure, but it is also a concept, which is entangled in the way the tourism industry is perceived. Who

34 35 gives the most trustworthy advices?: the tourist guide or the local? I will further elaborate on this issue in chapter 2 of the analysis.

Relationship More or Less

As I highlighted in my description of the field (2.2), Tinder has been criticized for being mainly used as sex app, as opposed to being a tool for people who want to find friendship or love. While Maslow does not distinguish between relationship, sex or friendship in his theory of needs, the tourists who use Tinder in many cases emphasize a division between the three. Just as some tourists are only using Tinder as a way of making friendships, as I argued in the beginning of this chapter, others are stating that they are only looking for sex. Some might even specifically utter what kind of sex they wish to have, as it can be seen from the two profiles1:

During my fieldwork, I quickly discovered how big a role sex, as a motivational factor, seems to play in Tourists’ use of Tinder, which led me to ask: Is Tinder a new form of sex tourism? This speculation was further supported when in my attempt to recruit informants accidently ended up chatting to prostitute on Tinder. While there is no doubt that many tourists are mainly using Tinder as a way of getting sex, while they are travelling, my netnography also showed that Tinder is used for multiple other reasons.

1 According to Urban dictionary “pegging” is defined as anal sex reversed. Instead of the man sticking his penis up the woman’s butt, the woman wears a strap-on and sticks it up the man’s butt (Urban dictionary, 2004).

From my netnography it was apparent that many use Tinder in their search for a romantic experience, while on their journey. As Jordan’s profile state she is “looking for some boy to come on adventures with me, hold my hand and take a photo with a go pro [camera]”. Sex is not excluded from this description from Jordan profile, in contrast to some of the statements, that I have shown in the section “friends only”. In stead she is looking for some one to share her experience with (and maybe hold the camera), while she is travelling.

Thus I argue that the intentions and motivational factors are manifold when it comes to tourists using Tinder. All though Maslow does not distinguish between sex, friendship etc. in his hierarchy of needs, the many different motivational factors are something, which tourist and regular users have to constantly navigate in. From my research it became apparent that it is important to state clearly what the user want out of their Tinder profile, whether it is sex, a relationship or both.

Thus this first part of analysis has illustrated how tourists seek friends, love and intimacy through Tinder. The motivations are manifold and therefore something, which the tourists most navigate in. In the next chapter of the analysis I will argue that many tourists are attempting to seek a ‘match’, which benefits their position or/and experience as tourists.

Chapter 2 – Selecting a Beneficial ‘Match’

This chapter highlights how tourists are able to create certain experiences through Tinder that current options for tourists might not. Thus I will explain and analyse why Tinder is used as an alternative means of finding a tour guide, and what motivates this search. Digging deeper I discuss why tour guides are becoming a sought after commodity on Tinder, looking into the concepts of trust /distrust and the search for authenticity, which the data indicates are depicting factors for wanting a tour guide on Tinder. Moreover I analyse the perceived sociological and practical benefits of using an application like Tinder, while travelling.

The Tour Guide

In analysing the data it has become apparent that tourists are using Tinder to find their very own tour guide. A commonly accepted definition of a tour guide is an individual, usually a professional, who guides groups (and sometimes individuals) around venues or places of interest such as natural areas, historic buildings and sites, and landscapes, interpreting the cultural and natural heritage in an inspiring and entertaining manner (Black and Ham, 2005).

Below are a few of the examples from my data supporting the finding that tourists are using Tinder to find their very own tour guide:

Interestingly, when applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to this tendency of tourists searching for a tour guide, an overlap of motivations appears. It can be assumed that a tourist’s motivation can fall within the categories of safety needs, belongingness and love, esteem needs and self-actualisation

(Maslow, 1943). It is believed that tourists may use Tinder for the motivational purposes of safety needs as by using a tour guide, the tourist can feel safe as they will be shown around Copenhagen by someone who knows the city giving a sense of security. A tourists may also be motivated by the belongings and love needs due to the sense of community and social aspects of being shown around. Additionally a tourist can also be motivated by their esteem needs with the sheer accomplishment of getting someone to act as their tour guide reason enough to feel a sense of accomplishment and prestige. Additionally tourists may also be motivated by the need for self-actualisation, to achieve one’s full potential, with the tourists being a co-contributor towards their activities allowing for creative process and the ability to truly achieve a unique tour. With previous research concluded that the sheer presence of

37 38 social networks and peer-to-peer exchange ultimately bringing about the co-creation of personalised experiences (Anacleto et al., 2014).

Although as can be seen all of these motivations for why tourists use Tinder in this manner are just that of an assumption. The data, which is here provided only supports the insight that tourists are using Tinder in their search for a tourist guide and not divulging further into why or what are their motivations to use Tinder in this manner. Thus in the context of the problem statement the analysis here is unable to identify the motivations. Thankfully additional insights were found in the analysis, and the following sections (trust/distrust and the quest for authenticity) will further support a deeper understanding towards the motivations of why tourists use Tinder to find a tour guide.

Trust and Distrust

I don’t trust the people working in the hostel because for instance when I was in Stockholm they recommend me a place where is near to the hostel to find the Swedish meatball but it was not a Swedish restaurant. It was just a mixed kebab, pizza place. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin Although this example is not directly related to Copenhagen, its relevance is still valid, as it discusses the concept of trust and how this trust has affected Yuexin’s behaviour and attitude towards a generalised tourism industry. The concept of trust can be understood as involving positive expectations about things hoped for and distrust involving negative expectations about things feared of (Hill & O`Hara, 2006: 11). Thus distrust is associated with fear and trust with hope.

It appears this event and consequential other actions have caused Yuexin to fear advice given by individuals in the tourism industry, and thereby creating negative expectations and ultimately distrust towards these individuals. Interestingly this distrust of the tourism industry has motived Yuexin to seek out alternative means to find local food. As Yuexin states “I found somewhere to eat local food over Tinder” (Appendix Interview 3, Yuexin).

Taking into account that trust is a state of mind which enables its possessor to be willing to make themselves vulnerable to one another, to rely on another despite a positive risk that the other will act in a way that can harm the trustee (Hill & O`Hara, 2006). It can be seen that Yuexin has developed elements of trust for using Tinder while travelling, as her actions

38 39 indicate that she is willing to make herself vulnerable, despite the positive risks associated with using Tinder, a dating app known for casual one-night relations (Braziel, 2015; James, 2015; Appendix, interviews 1- 6). With additional research suggesting that the intentions to use social media are directly influenced by the perceived benefits or risk of that use (Nusair et al., 2013; Parra-López et al., 2011). Acknowledgement of this risk and further trust for using Tinder in this method can be seen from the below extract.

My approach towards Tinder is not perfect for me but it is kind of interesting, to be able to talk to the local people and get some tips and known something about their culture and that is enough for me. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin As can be analysed from the given data this distrust of the tourism industry and trust towards Tinder has motivated Yuexin to use Tinder to search for a virtual tourist guide, recommending her places to go, eat and see. Applying the theoretical framework to the above given data in Yuexin situation it can be said that the motivation stems from her need of self- actualisation in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. As Yuexin is actively trying to achieve the best advice available and is reaching beyond the basic physiological needs of food and water. Although the data supports the insight that trust and distrust are a motivating factor for using Tinder to find a tour guide, further analysis is still needed in understanding what the other motivations for tourists using Tinder are. As I will illustrate in the following section the data suggests that there is more than one motivation for using Tinder in this manner.

Searching for Authenticity

Touristic consciousness is motivated by the desire for authentic experiences.

MacCannell (1976: 101)

Even though this study was conducted 40 years ago, studies today still show that authenticity plays a large role in the motivations for many tourists (Yan et al., 2016). The very term authenticity has grown ambiguous by its mere presence and varied use (Golomb 1995: 7). Although within tourism studies there is a growing understanding of authenticity to be based around the understandings of existential authenticity (Brown, 2013; Cohen and Cohen, 2012; Wang, 1999).

In understanding existential authenticity I draw from three tourism professors who have varying but related understandings. Wang (1996: 200) believes that existential authenticity

39 40 relates to activity and is a state of mind. Brown (1996) believes that existential authenticity is a state of being, which is activated by tourists when having a good time. Finally Pons (2003) believes that existential authenticity relies on a metaphorical ‘dwelling’ or being bodily involved with the world. Thus the understandings of existential authenticity is not concerned with whether an object or activity can be viewed as object-authentic or real (Wang, 1999).

Nonetheless the data collected points towards authenticity or the search for authenticity to be a key motivation for why tourists use Tinder in Copenhagen. Yuexin states: “When travelling I try and embrace the culture” (Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin). This account reaffirms McCanell’s views that tourists are motivated by the desire for authentic experiences (McCanell, 1976: 101). Additionally Yuexin’s declaration of wanting to embrace the culture while travelling, highlights the importance tourists place towards authenticity, with this being further represented in her desire to try local food as seen below:

I like to try the local food, because I want to try something I couldn’t cook at home. If I just cooked at home.. I don’t need to travel to find those foods or stuff. It is just a waste of time or opportunity. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin

For Yuexin searching for some idea of localness or what she perceives as local foods is a need whilst travelling. This again highlights the sheer importance which searching for authenticity plays for tourists’ vacations. Other users, such as Patricia, have a more pragmatic view on the search for authenticity.

A lot of the guys that are on Tinder are Danish, so I think if I go meet them, they will give me a lot of insights about this place. Appendix, Interview 5, Patricia

To Patricia connecting with a Danish guy represents a key into reaching an understanding of the culture and place she is in. Both examples show the importance, which tourists place towards localness. Localness or locality can be perceived as something original or unique about a country or place, and thus represents the tourist’s understanding of what is authentic for a certain destination. In both examples authenticity is an activity or state of being (Brown, 1996) accessed through local experiences. The search for authenticity can be understood by applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Seen through Maslow’s perspective the tourists searching for authentic experience are acting on a need for self-actualisation, whereby they are trying to achieve their full potential. The notion of reaching full potential can be understood from the following description by Karolina:

It is a whole other story when you go with tourists, than when you go with people who live there. Also the day life is different to the nightlife. So going out with locals was a whole different experience then by the day with other tourists. Appendix, Interview 2, Karolina

Here, Karolina describes the difference between experiencing the city with tourists and locals. Facing the city’s opportunities with locals, she is able to gain “a whole different experience” than she would have by herself or with other tourists, and thereby she is able to reach the full potential of her stay in Copenhagen.

As the previous sections has shown being able to connect with locals holds great importance for the tourists using Tinder. Hereby they are able to access local people and local experiences, and thus achieving what they perceive to be authentic in Copenhagen, while reaching the full potential of their journey. In the following section I explore how Tinder’s inherent function of selectivity can be understood as a benefit, whish the tourists seek.

Good for Me

In this section I am analysing the sought benefits of the ‘Tinder tourist’. Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorisation of benefits sought is beneficial in terms of understanding how tourists seek individualistic interests and benefits when using Tinder on their journeys. Although Tinder can be described as an online community, where people meet, talk and exchange information, it is also a place where individualistic intentions come to show. In the present section I will explore aspects of Tinder such as flexibility, access and selecting a ‘match’ in order to better understand the motivating intentions of the ‘Tinder tourist’. It is important to state that these benefits are all intertwined, and will therefore not be separated in the current section. I show what benefits Tinder as a social platform and media can offer tourists as oppose to other meeting platforms, such as hostels.

For a long time hostels have been a space for tourists to socialize and obtain information about the culture and attractions of their chosen destination (Paris, 2011). While this might still be the case, Tinder offers tourists another possibility to meet up with people. From my research it was clear that tourists were experiencing a clear benefit in terms of, how easy, flexible and quick it was to get in touch with new people. By using Tinder they were able to

41 42 look for new people to meet up with, without having to engage in much prior talk. The tourists simply scroll through the images of people displayed at the screen of their mobile phones while they press ‘like’ or ‘nope’. Furthermore they can perform this activity anytime they feel a need to meet someone.

During my recruitment of informants I chatted with a girl, who was looking for someone to go out for some drinks with. She explained how her friends upon arrival had all gone to sleep, and having just landed she wanted to go out and explore Copenhagen’s nightlife, but she did not want to do it alone. This experience illustrates how Tinder as a social platform offers the tourist the benefit of flexibility. In this example the tourist uses Tinder as a tool for pursuing an individual interest, being dissatisfied with the collective decision of going to bed. Thus Tinder is a flexible tool, that the tourist can use anytime anywhere, or without even leaving her room.

Furthermore it offers the tourist a technique to be selective, as the tourist will be able to state what exactly they want out of the meeting. This is highlighted by Victoria’s profile, where she expresses a hope for meeting people she can attend concerts with.

The tourist can also be selective by only pressing ‘like’ to the people they think they will have fun with. Another informant who was seeking simular benefits from Tinder exemplifies this finding. The informant, Dagnar, had just started an internship in Denmark, and at the time of the interview, she had only been in Copenhagen for a week. When I asked her why she was using Tinder she answered:

I think it’s perfect because I can select people before I meet them. I can see if they are architects or designers and I really like to meet other creative people. Appendix, Interview 1, Dagnar

Being completely new in Denmark and searching for friends, contacts etc., Dagnar sees Tinder as an advantageous means to meeting not just new people, but the right kind of people. She further elaborates on this point and explains:

It is really funny, because when I find some architect student, I can find his portfolio. And when I see his portfolio I already know him and I think yeah okay you are good.

Because a portfolio is something, that tells everything about you. Its all your projects, it’s the way you think. If you have made some good stuff I think yes you would be good to meet, and I want to associate myself with those people. Of course not everyone who has made nice projects are nice for me and but this [Tinder] is some solution in choosing people I want to meet. Appendix, Interview 1, Dagnar

Dagnar perceives Tinder as a “solution in choosing” the friends or acquaintances that she feels are best suited for her. In this case it is people who she sees herself, as having something in common with, which to her are architects. In analysing Dagnar’s reason for using Tinder through Driver, Brown and Peterson’s theoretical framework, we can see how she is motivated by a sociological benefit, that she can obtain through Tinder. Tinder becomes a mean to a realisation of her own social position in the world.

Because Tinder allows the user to make a kind of pre-approval before the first face-to-face meeting, Dagnar is able to pick people who hold a lot in common with her. Being new in a country offers Dagnar a clean slate to pick the types of people that according to Dagnar, will be good for her. This function stands in big contrast to the way tourists meet locals or other tourists when they go to hostels or bars. Much like shopping in a super-market Dagnar chooses the friends that she likes the most out of a selection. By employing Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to Dagnar’s way of approaching Tinder, Dagnar’s practice of selecting and choosing friends can ultimately be analysed as a need for self-actualization, a process in which Dagnar is choosing the kind of person she want to be, while in Copenhagen. The following quote hints towards that:

I have never tried windsurfing and I find that in Copenhagen that is common, so maybe I need to find someone that can teach me, or just give advice Appendix, Interview 1, Dagnar In the quote Dagnar explains how she would like to learn to windsurf, and by using Tinder she can pick a person who can help her realize this goal.

Applying Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorisation of benefits sought and Maslow theory of needs, we are able to see how tourists pursue sociological benefits, while trying to fulfil a self-actualisation need through their use of Tinder. Tinder becomes a means for the tourist to be selective in terms of the kind of activities they want to engage in, what kind of people they want to meet on their journey, and ultimately who they want to be.

Time & Access

He asked me after the dinner if we could have another date and I said no because I am leaving. Appendix, Interview 3, Yuexin Time was very present in a lot of my data. Many of the tourists specified just how long they were in Copenhagen on their profiles. Initially the time perspective in relation to the ‘Tinder tourist’ puzzled me. By definition a tourist is someone who only stays in a country for a period of one day up to a year. The idea that tourists would engage in relationships, whether friendly or romantic, seemed to me a bit obsolete because of the time constraint. The piece of story above emphasizes how time can become a barrier and something, which the tourist must deal with. However, time also figured as a motivational factor, as illustrated by Monika’s profile. She writes: “Here for a good time, not a long time”. Because tourists only have a limited time, they want to make the best of it, and maximize what they can get out of it. Due to the time constraint Tinder figured as quick way for the tourist to gain access to experiences.

Planning and time management were a big influential factors in tourists’ way of reaching out through Tinder. As I have already mentioned, many of the tourist states the amount of time that they are travelling. Hereby they are making sure that people know at which time they can be reached. This tendency is seen through the profile of Cristi):

She uses the subtext of her profile to describe time and place for her travels. In this example it is not just a case of being bored as shown in the previous chapter, but Cristi is actively planning and hoping to meet people through Tinder in every city. According to previous research (Gretzel and Yoo 2008; Hudson & Thai, 2013) social media has fundamentally changed the way individuals plan and consume travel. In correspondence with this research, Tinder offers the tourist an effective way to access people according to their own schedule. Exemplified by Cristi’s profile Tinder can be seen as a technology which not only bring locals and tourists together, but also synchronizes time and space in a globalized world.

Summing up

Thus this analysis has shown and argued for the many different motivations which cause tourist to use Tinder. Through applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as well as Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorization of benefits sought, the analysis has drawn up a complex map of the ‘Tinder tourists’’ motivations. The analysis concludes that tourists use Tinder to fulfil needs of ‘love and belongingness’, such as friendships or romance. Interestingly several tourists use Tinder to find only friendships, even though Tinder is a dating app. Furthermore a portion of tourists use tinder to seek locals to show them around and present them to an authentic experience. Tinder allows the tourist to choose between the kinds of people they want to meet, and by using Tinder they are able to realize either themselves or the kind for people they want to be, while they are travelling. A key argument of the analysis has been to illustrate how the many different motivations come together and shape the way tourists navigate and practice their Tinder use.

In refereeing back to the opening quote of the analysis, I have argued that the multiplicity of motivations are shaping and recreating the community of Tinder. Tinder is not an online community with a fixed function, and when tourists interact with Tinder, using it for different reasons, they are a part of forming the meaning of Tinder.

Discussion: Reflections on the Tinder Tourist

With the motivations for why tourists use Tinder presented within the analysis, this section aims to critically discuss these findings. The chapter wishes to expand on the understanding of the ‘Tinder tourist’ discussing the motivations, giving further insight, into who and what the ‘Tinder tourist’ is. Additionally this section is used to base and understanding towards how and why these motivations are relevant towards the tourism Industry. The discussion is split up into three main sections with the first being based on exploring Tinder as an online community and the ‘Tinder tourist’s’ existence in this community. Secondly the discussion reflects on the ‘Tinder tourists’ needs to connected, and finally the discussion reflects on the role of Tinder in relations to the tourism industry.

Tinder – An individualistic Community?

The people we meet change our lives. A friend, a date, a romance, or even a chance encounter can change someone’s life forever. Tinder empowers users around the world to create new connections that otherwise might never have been possible. We build products that bring people together Tinder, 2015

Interestingly Tinder as an online community is based on a shared goal of meeting people, expanding networks and finding love, but the activity is formed in groups of two and two. Throughout the analysis there appeared to be a correspondence between the motivations of the ‘Tinder tourist’ and the hopes that Tinder expresses for its users.

In a critical reflection it can be argued that the motives for why tourists use Tinder in Copenhagen, can be described from two opposing directions. On the one side it appears as though tourists in Copenhagen are seeking to become a part of a community and feel a sense of belonging; whether this be through friendship, friends with benefits or some form of relationship. On the other side the data suggests that this form of togetherness is nothing more than an individualistic motive to get what ‘I’ want, whether it is a tourist guide, some hot tips on Copenhagen, or the type of friends ‘I’ envision will be good for me.

As has been previously stated community is a mixed bag of possible options whose meanings and concreteness are always being negotiated by individuals, in the context of changing external constraints (Komito 1998, in Kozinets 2010: 9). It can be argued that the dual motivations of Tinder users can be seen through this scope, as they are both individualistic, community based and a combination of the two.

A study by Arnould and Wallendorf (1994, in Kozinets 2010: 12) believes that online communities form or manifest cultures, that serve to order, guide and direct the behaviour of a particular society or group of individuals. When discussing this concept in the case of Tinder and tourists, the data points towards Tinder having manifested an individualistic culture. Like that of the newspaper articles that attempted to capitulate the essence of Tinder, stating that it was the ‘dating apocalypse’ , a ‘sex app’ and a ‘hook up app’ (Finkell, 2015; Newall, 2016; Riley, 2015; Sales, 2015). The analysis highlights that although there may be some variations of Tinder being one of these sub-cultures as seen above, the culture of Tinder and tourists resonates more towards an aspect of vanity and what is good for me. This is seen throughout the analysis as motives such as looking for a tour guide, time and access, finding friends and boredom can be understood as individualistic motives that the tourists wish to fulfil. Thus in developing a further understanding towards the ‘Tinder tourists’ it is assume that the Tinder tourists may have behavioural tendencies that is guided towards a, ‘what is good for me’ approach in travelling.

Fear of Disconnection

Baumann argues that:

..human togetherness now revolves around ‘virtual proximity’ and ‘virtual distance’, which means that people can be close even though they are far apart, or disconnected even though they are right next to each other. It also means that it does not matter which place you are in, since the difference between one place and another has been cancelled and made null and void. Bauman, 2003 as in Molz, 2012 With Tinder being a concept based around social media the very essence of ‘virtual proximity’ and ‘virtual distance’ plays a role in understanding the ‘Tinder tourist’. The analysis sections of ’boredom’ briefly analysed the allure in which virtual proximity and virtual distance plays for tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen. However what appears to be more relevant in relation to the ‘Tinder tourists’ is the aspect of being ‘connected’ and ‘disconnected’. Bauman (2003) refers to ‘connection’ as a means for people to describe their

47 48 social experiences. ‘Disconnection’ refers to an individual being either socially, digitally or physically disconnected from their environment (Molz, 2012).

What is interesting about this concept is that all tourists analysed within this study are classified as digitally connected tourists, thus being ‘connected’ plays a big part in approaching an understanding of the ‘Tinder tourist’. Discussing further, it would appear that the ‘Tinder tourists’ may be individuals who are afraid to be alone or feeling disconnected from their digital worlds. Additionally a key component to the academic literature in tourism motivation studies believes that a reason for why people travel comes down to their need for escape (Dann, 1981). However as all tourists analysed on Tinder are digitally connected it can be discussed whether they are in fact ‘escaping’ or returning to a familiar virtual home.

The Industry

As argued through the analysis Tinder represents an alternative means of creating experiences while travelling. The fact that tourists are seeking experiences through Tinder, instead of using official tourism methods, poses the questions: Why does some tourists prefer Tinder? And what influence does the ‘Tinder tourist’ have on the tourism industry?

Through the analysis I have highlighted examples, in which the tourists found that Tinder was a better and easier way of achieving their hopes for the journey, than the options of industry. Instead of using the common room of the hostel or a trained tour guide the tourists sought an alternative through Tinder. The reasons for this tendency can be discussed in relation to the growth of the sharing economy (Ert et al., 2016). During the past years, the sharing economy has gained an increasing popularity within tourism. Sharing economies such as Airbnb, couch surfing and Uber have attracted tourists, while pulling them away from established tourist businesses, such as hotels, hostels and taxi companies (Ert et al., 2016). These economies hold many similarities with Tinder, and it is therefore interesting to reflect and discuss on the success criteria of these services in relation to Tinder and tourists.

Just like Tinder theses services have the potential of facilitating a sense of contact with the localness of a city: unlike a hotel, sleeping in someone’s home is personal and the tourist might gain a sense of what it is actually like to live in the city which they are visiting. The same characteristics are present in the collected data. The tourists feel that they are able to connect with alternative and authentic experiences by reaching out to locals through Tinder.

Moreover trust is an essential part of the sharing economy, as trading with strangers unavoidably involves a risk of asymmetric information and economic lose (Ert et al., 2016). As highlighted in the analysis Tinder hold a similar allure in relation to issues of trust. The tourists trust the experiences that the locals can provide them with, sometimes even more so, than they trust the tourism industries. It can be discussed whether tourists using Tinder can be seen as an expression of the increasing tendency of consumers to place trust in private or local people, instead of industries. While services such as Airbnb has indisputably had an influence on the hotel business it is yet to be seen whether Tinder proposes a risk towards the tourism guide industry of Copenhagen. So far applications, which has been based directly on facilitating meetings between locals and tourists have not gained much popularity. However Tinder’s wide popularity around the world might change that.

Future Research

With a primary aim for this thesis to lay the foundations for future research. The analysis and discussion has showed that there are a multitude of avenues in which research can go forward, However as argued for the direction and choice of this thesis, it is recommend that future research be conducted in a field that has a rich embodiment of academic literature. Furthermore a logical starting point for future research would be to investigate the motivations of tourists using Tinder focussing on the male tourists who use it. Although the research gathered from this thesis would suggests that the tourism industry would have greater benefit to investigate alternative means to fulfil the belongingness and love needs of tourists. While this thesis focusses towards the motivations of tourists using Tinder in Copenhagen, it is still unknown what reasons the locals have for being a tour guide or a friend. Thus it would be necessary to explore this arena, in order to truly understand what experiences the ‘Tinder tourist’ actually gain from using Tinder.

Conclusion

Through this thesis I have attempted to approach an understanding of the ‘Tinder tourist’, and the motivational factors causing tourists to use Tinder. Tinder is a global dating application, which by its own words are connecting people who might otherwise never have met. My curiousness towards tourists using a dating app, guided my interest in approaching the topic of this thesis. Thus the thesis sets out to answer the question: Why are tourists using Tinder? In doing so, I approached the field openly, choosing a motivational perspective as my theoretical framework. By applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as well as Driver, Brown and Peterson’s categorisation of benefit sought the thesis directed its attentions towards creating a motivational understanding of the ‘Tinder tourist’. The study is further based on a qualitative study, consisting of two main methods: Netnography and qualitative semi- structured interviews. While observing the online profiles of the ‘Tinder tourists’, I recruited informants through my own personal profile on Tinder. The approach essentially meant that I became a participant observer, while conducting netnography. From this methodological approach a large portion of screenshots of tourists on Tinder, as well interviews with six

50 51 tourists in Copenhagen was collected. The material collected through these methods made up the data, which the analysis of the present thesis is based on.

The analysis depicts two main findings, brought to light by the theoretical framework. In analysing the data it became evident that belongingness and love needs were central motivations in tourists’ use of Tinder. A large portion of tourists were solo travellers looking for friends through Tinder. Surprisingly while many tourists were motivated by an interest in love, sex or a casual flirt, several of the tourists included in the study stressed how they were only looking for friends. Being new to the city of Copenhagen, Tinder provides a useful tool for expanding the network of tourists and creating friendships. Although Tinder is officially known to be a dating app, tourists’ use of Tinder illustrates how Tinder is a community in process, constantly being redefined by the meaning which the user ascribe the medium.

Further the analysis concludes that tourists are using Tinder due to its function of selectivity. By using Tinder the tourists are able to connect with locals, and thereby assessing alternative tourist experiences. The tourists are motivated by a distrust in the tourism industry, as well as a search for an authentic experience. Viewed though the perspective of Maslow, being able to connect with locals through Tinder allows the tourist to feel that they are reaching the full potential of their journey. Moreover the selectivity in Tinder makes it easy to pursue ‘matches’ that will be good for me. In using Tinder the tourist can select the friends that they find will be the best to realize their goals in Copenhagen, and ultimately who they want to be.

Thus my study shows that tourists, although participating in an online community, are using Tinder for individualistic motives. The discussion reflects on this ambiguity, and further discusses what it means to be connected as a tourist today. The ‘Tinder tourist’ is someone who is connected, and who uses the potential of online connectedness to reach local or alternative experiences.

In answering the problem statement this thesis has shown how there are multiple and complex motivations causing tourists to use Tinder, promoting what I in this thesis have

51 52 termed as the ‘Tinder tourist’. Thereby this thesis hopes to have laid an initial foundation for future research into the ‘Tinder tourist, and what it means to travel using a dating app. While the ‘Tinder tourist’ is influencing the meaning and use of Tinder, the online community of Tinder, with its capacity to create connections based on locality and interest, is impacting what it means to be a tourist today. Dating app or not, Tinder creates connections.

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