Online search for Offline Partners: matching platforms as tools of individual empowerment and social retraditionalization

Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. The growing demand for artificial partner-seeking procedures in contemporary societies; 3. Effortless accessibility and high compatibility with other activities and roles; 4. Ready exit options; 5. The larger pool of alternatives; 6. The standardization of exclusion criteria; 7. Another historical stage in the ongoing „subjectification“ of partner selection; 8. The absence of structuring by "situative frames"; 9. From multilateral to "poly-bilateral" interactions; 10. Symmetrical patterns of communicational exchange; 11. The discursive (instead of intuitive) process of mutual disclosure; 12. Dispersed interaction flows and reduced normative commitments; 13. On the semi-playfulness and "latent irony" of online interactions; 14. Conclusive Remarks; References