Audience Address on Dating Profiles: My Desired-Other and Second Person Reference

Dating sites are goal-oriented spaces where users make profiles to form relationships. These users know that the actual audience reading their profile is large, containing both the desired-others (auditor-addressees) and undesired-others (auditor-overhearers). This study explores how profile makers on OkCupid reveal the desired-others in their imagined audiences through direct address via the profile affordance: "You should message me if…" This direct audience address is achieved by you-statements, which are phrases about or directed towards the desired-other using second person reference. 300 OkCupid dating profiles were examined for the frequency and variety of you-statements through content analysis. The analysis demonstrates that you-statements are a common feature on OkCupid and proposes a robust list of 14 functions. Findings suggest that you-statements can be used to reveal the profile maker's desired-others in their imagined audiences through broadening and narrowing moves. Finally, you-statements both describe the desired-others, who are unique to each profile maker, and detail important aspects about the profile makers themselves.