How Anti-ghosting Interventions Affect Matchmaking

Many digital platforms do good well in bringing users together but not so much in encouraging continued communication. In this work, we collaborate with a dating platform and study how an "anti-ghosting" feature aimed at continuing communication affects users. We find that users exposed to this feature increase all their communication activity, even that which is not directly associated with this feature. We study why this happens and find that exposed users browse less for other members and instead converge their attention towards members they are already connected to. Studying matchmaking, we find that exposed users benefit both by becoming more likely to move their communication off the platform with other members, as well as by doing so with more members. Furthermore, we assess the economic value of incorporating this feature for platforms. Lastly, we discuss how we contribute to the literature and our work's implications for platform decision-makers.