Exploring the Phenomenon of Online Acquaintance on Matchmaking Websites for Marriage Purposes

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: The expansion of digital communication and virtual environments has significantly transformed traditional mate-selection patterns and introduced matchmaking websites as emerging platforms for premarital acquaintance in Iran. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Iranian users of online matchmaking websites and to interpret the individual, interactional, and sociocultural dimensions of these experiences.

Methodology: This qualitative study employed reflexive thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s framework. Participants consisted of 10 Iranian users with prior experience using matchmaking websites for marriage purposes during 2024, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected through indepth semistructured interviews and continued until conceptual saturation was achieved. The data were analyzed inductively following Braun and Clarke’s six-phase procedure, and MAXQDA 2023 software was used for coding and data organization. To enhance trustworthiness, member checking, peer review, and reflective memo writing were applied throughout the research process.

Findings: Data analysis resulted in eight major themes, including motivations for joining, contradictory experiences, distrust and identity authenticity, opportunities and advantages, challenges and harms, the role of family and society, impacts on attitudes toward marriage, and suggestions for platform improvement. Findings indicated that users’ experiences were multilayered and ambivalent; ease of communication, wider choice diversity, and reduced temporal and spatial limitations were perceived as major advantages, whereas distrust, fake identities, emotional harm, exploitation, and conflicts with cultural norms emerged as the most significant challenges. Trust and identity authenticity appeared as the central themes underlying most other aspects of users’ experiences.

Conclusion: Online acquaintance through matchmaking websites among Iranian users is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon shaped by the interaction between individual characteristics, platform structures, and sociocultural contexts. The findings highlight the necessity of strengthening identity-verification systems, improving cybersecurity measures, promoting digital literacy, and reducing the social stigma associated with online relationships to facilitate safer and more effective use of such platforms.