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A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men

BACKGROUND: The Internet has become an important venue for seeking sexual partners and may facilitate transmission of sexually transmitted infections. METHODS: We examined a 64-day data log of flirt messages expressing sexual interest among MSM within the Qruiser.com community. We used logistic regr...

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Autores principales: Villani, Antonella, Frigessi, Arnoldo, Liljeros, Fredrik, Nordvik, Monica K., de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3396616/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22808052
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039717
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author Villani, Antonella
Frigessi, Arnoldo
Liljeros, Fredrik
Nordvik, Monica K.
de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben
author_facet Villani, Antonella
Frigessi, Arnoldo
Liljeros, Fredrik
Nordvik, Monica K.
de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben
author_sort Villani, Antonella
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The Internet has become an important venue for seeking sexual partners and may facilitate transmission of sexually transmitted infections. METHODS: We examined a 64-day data log of flirt messages expressing sexual interest among MSM within the Qruiser.com community. We used logistic regression to analyze characteristics of MSM sending and receiving flirt messages and negative binomial regression to examine individual activity and popularity. The structural properties, including the core structure of the flirt network, were analyzed. RESULTS: The MSM population consisted of approximately 40% homosexuals and 37% bisexuals, while the remaining 23% included men who identified as heterosexual but searched for sex with men and “experimental”. MSM were more likely to send flirt messages if they were homosexual and aged 40+ years; young people aged < 30 years were more likely to receive a flirt. Possession of a webcam was strongly associated with both sending flirt messages and being a flirt target. The distributions of flirts sent (max k(out) = 2162) and received (max k(in) = 84) were highly heterogeneous. Members in central cores were more likely homosexuals, singles, and aged 31–40 years. The probability of a matched flirt (flirt returned from target) increased from 1% in the outer core to 18% in the central core (core size = 4). DISCUSSION: The flirt network showed high degree heterogeneity similar to the structural properties of real sexual contact networks with a single central core. Further studies are needed to explore use of webcam for Internet dating.
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spelling pubmed-33966162012-07-17 A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men Villani, Antonella Frigessi, Arnoldo Liljeros, Fredrik Nordvik, Monica K. de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: The Internet has become an important venue for seeking sexual partners and may facilitate transmission of sexually transmitted infections. METHODS: We examined a 64-day data log of flirt messages expressing sexual interest among MSM within the Qruiser.com community. We used logistic regression to analyze characteristics of MSM sending and receiving flirt messages and negative binomial regression to examine individual activity and popularity. The structural properties, including the core structure of the flirt network, were analyzed. RESULTS: The MSM population consisted of approximately 40% homosexuals and 37% bisexuals, while the remaining 23% included men who identified as heterosexual but searched for sex with men and “experimental”. MSM were more likely to send flirt messages if they were homosexual and aged 40+ years; young people aged < 30 years were more likely to receive a flirt. Possession of a webcam was strongly associated with both sending flirt messages and being a flirt target. The distributions of flirts sent (max k(out) = 2162) and received (max k(in) = 84) were highly heterogeneous. Members in central cores were more likely homosexuals, singles, and aged 31–40 years. The probability of a matched flirt (flirt returned from target) increased from 1% in the outer core to 18% in the central core (core size = 4). DISCUSSION: The flirt network showed high degree heterogeneity similar to the structural properties of real sexual contact networks with a single central core. Further studies are needed to explore use of webcam for Internet dating. Public Library of Science 2012-07-13 /pmc/articles/PMC3396616/ /pubmed/22808052 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039717 Text en Villani et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Villani, Antonella
Frigessi, Arnoldo
Liljeros, Fredrik
Nordvik, Monica K.
de Blasio, Birgitte Freiesleben
A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title_full A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title_fullStr A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title_full_unstemmed A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title_short A Characterization of Internet Dating Network Structures among Nordic Men Who Have Sex with Men
title_sort characterization of internet dating network structures among nordic men who have sex with men
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3396616/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22808052
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039717
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