Technology

The success of the dating website OkCupid has obtained a lot of its achievements on its background technology.  OkCupid is able to collect a large amount of data from its users throughout the use of questions.  However, it is not the information that OkCupid collects from the answers to these questions that is important, it is what its technology is able to do with this information.  OkCupid’s background technology uses what is called an algorithm.  “Behind every smart web service is a some even smarter web code.  From the web retailers—circulating what books and films we might be interested in…it is these invisible computations that increasingly control how we interact with our electronic world” (Wakefield, 2011).  Essentially, algorithms are able to create a model that foresees what is likely to occur.

            “OkCupid’s algorithm calculates match percentage by comparing answers to “match questions,” which cover such potentially deal-breaking topics as religion, politics, lifestyle, and—I mean, let’s be honest, most importantly—sex.” (Winterhalter, 2016).  When OkCupid asks its users questions in order to begin creating matches, the algorithm takes the users answer, how the user would like someone else to answer, and how important the question is to the user.  OkCupid’s algorithm then assigns a number to the users answer of how important the question is to them.  For example, if they mark the question as irrelevant, the algorithm would assign a ‘1’, if they mark it a littler important, it would be assigned a ‘2’, and so on.  The algorithm then uses a mathematical formula in order to discover the match percentage between two of the users.  By using an algorithm, OkCupid is able to give users a mathematical expression of how happy and satisfied they would be with one another based on the information taken from the questions asked.

References:

Wakefield, J. (2011, August 23). When Algorithms Control the World. BBC News.

Winterhalter, B. (2016, February 10). Don't Fall in Love on OkCupid. JSTOR.