– ‘Sign of promiscuity’ –
Even if the Singapore-based Paktor – which claims 3.5 million registered users – is less averse to hook ups, it has recently also added functions such as group chats.
“People either organise a group meeting or they reach out to one person in that chat to have a conversation with them,” explains Joseph Phua, 31, co-founder of the app.
“It’s true that people here tend to be more reserved, less direct,” he added. “Asian society feels failure or rejection more strongly, it’s just part of the fabric of society. That carries on into the dating space as well.”
While apps are being created or tweaked to adapt to tamer local sensibilities, others like China’s WeChat can lead to casual trysts with a location-based “Shake” function.
But meeting a partner online in a global hub like Hong Kong still remains less common than in the West – despite 62.80 percent of people owning a smartphone, according to Google figures.
A 2011 survey led by Emil Ng Man-Lun of Hong Kong University’s Family Institute found that just five percent of locals had met a partner online or via an app, compared to 22 percent of Americans, according to Stanford University research published that year.
“Our impression is that this is rising. But by how much it is rising, we are not sure yet,” Ng says.
“People think they are a sign of promiscuity. They worry that they get into intimacy too early, without sufficient time for knowing each other. It seems, however, that these theories have not stopped people from using them.”