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Paper Short Abstract:

This research investigates the Dutch ‘Breeze’ location-based dating application, with its integrated direct-payment infrastructure, as part of broader socio-technical shifts in the intimate mediation of payment(s) within the context of the Netherlands.

Paper Abstract:

In the socio-cultural setting of the Netherlands, digital peer-to-peer (P2P) payments have rapidly increased in recent years (Zanen 2021) with a growing body of research relating P2P applications to the social mediation of payment(s) (e.g. van den Idsert 2022). Amidst this context, the Dutch ‘Breeze’ start-up emerged. This Netherlands-based location-based dating (LBD) application distinguishes itself from a saturated LBD market by basing its funding model on a series of integrate direct payment affordances designed to create accountability for attendance of first dates (Breeze, n.d.). This includes a ‘first drink’ payment and service fee, once a date has been mutually agreed upon, as well as a penalty fee if a user does not attend a date. This research asks: What can an investigation of Breeze use tell about shifting norms relating to the social mediation of payments(s) in intimate relationship building within the context of the Netherlands?

Existing studies on LBD applications have tended to overlook the sociocultural context to focus on digitized intimacy (e.g. Hobbs et al. 2017) as well as the gamification dating through platforms’ interfaces (e.g. Walter-Linne 2020). This research investigates Breeze as part of broader questions surrounding evolving socio-technical entanglements. Theoretically, this research builds from the sociology and anthropology of money (Zelizer 1994) and methodologically combines a platform-based affordance analysis with quantitative survey-based inquiries. Initial findings argue Breeze as part of a larger ‘moral’ shift in the social mediation of payment(s) throughout the Netherlands, influenced by increasing socio-technical entanglement into everyday social practices and patterns.