Profiles, choices and "psychology" - Processes of intensification on German dating sites

This article proposes an interpretation of online-dating on German dating sites. While online-dating becomes more and more popular, it is still considered as "special" and "different". People searching for love and relationships on the Internet act in an area of tension. They have to negotiate their positions between cultural ideas of romantic love, individual desires and the possibilities offered by the Internet. The accent is put on processes of intensification, typical for online-dating. References are made to: the intensification of self-representation; the intensification of decision making; the single services' focussing on "science" and "psychology".