Abstract :
Nowadays, starting acquaintance to looking for dates through online media is very common. HAGO, an online game application that is currently popular and widely used by Indonesians, has turned out to be a medium for finding dating partners for some people. This study was conducted to determine the self-disclosure process carried out by users of the HAGO online game application in finding dating partners.
Researchers applied the Social Penetration Theory by Alman and Taylor. There are 4 stages described in the Social Penetration Theory to achieve intimacy, namely the orientation stage, exploratory affective stage, affective exchange stage and stable exchange stage.
This was a qualitative study using a case study method. Researchers took 4 informants who were users of the HAGO online game application who had or were dating and had a relationship with someone he knew through the HAGO online game application.
The result of this study showed that self-disclosure process carried out by the informants was in accordance with the stages in the social penetration theory. Informants sequentially went through the self-disclosure stage from the orientation stage until the stable exchange stage.
Keyword :
Online Dating, Social Penetration, Online Game, Self-Disclosure