Courtship Pattern on Dating Sites: a Study on Bumble and Sweetmeet

This study, titled "Courtship Pattern on Dating Sites: A study of Bumble and Sweetmeet," investigates the pattern of communication ,interactions and engagements on the two dating platforms as well as comparing the effectiveness of those patterns with the offline engagements. The study adopts participant observation using convenience sampling technique to select 10 participants each from the platforms (Bumble and Sweetmeet). Data were collected through a structured observation form and analyzed using thematic analysis and visual ethnography. The findings of the study revealed that young adults within the age of 24 to 40 and 16 to 35 make use of Bumble and Sweetmeet respectively . The two dating platforms have other features apart from messaging, liking etc that are found in popular social media platforms (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram etc) These distinctive features of Bumble and Sweetmeet include:matching, swiping, spotlight, subscription, photoline etc , that enable users to interact with one another. Also, the platforms give room for equal engagement of both male and female genders and there are several ways to approach prospective suitors such as opening move, sending of virtual gifts video and voicecalls etc. The theoretical framework used for this study is the "Uses and Gratifications Theory" which helps to explain that users of the two platforms intentionally choose and use the dating sites to achieve the purpose of meeting and dating prospective partners . Finally, this research highlights the need for dating sites users, potential users, software application developers, policymakers, and researchers to collaborate and develop dating applications that can serve the courtship need of indigenous people of Nigeria .