Self-Selection: The Player Herds on Dating Sites Part 2

In my last post I talked about the mechanics of a dating site, now let’s see what it means for the players.

Eventually, out of the first batch of customers, only the players are left. Then those players are mixed in with the second batch of customers, and so on. Therefore, over time, even the dating sites that have the most marriage-oriented goals will have a collection of players who essentially become permanent fixtures of that site.

The ugly little secret? They are the dating sites’ real bread and butter because THEY ARE THE ONES WHO REMAIN IN THE POOL AND KEEP PAYING. And here lies the irony: the very place that one goes to hunt for a husband might be the place that has some of the most die-hard players.

And of course these men are hungry for fresh blood – only the newbies will be fooled by their flattery and their line that “they’re just waiting for the right girl”.

In economics, individuals select themselves into prospective groups based on their very own nature. It’s called self-selection. What that means is that who you are determines the way you are positioned in the market.

For example, if you know you’re prone to illness, then you would have a greater incentive to join the health insurance plan at work, because you’re sure to make your contributions worthwhile. Once you’re in the plan, you’ll be joined by other illness-prone individuals just like you, who take full advantage of their annual limits for massages, physiotherapy, dental, etc.

(continued in my next post...)