Infrastructures of Intimate Data: Mapping the Inbound and Outbound Data Flows of Dating Apps

In this article we engage with methodological challenges that apps pose for empirical analysis and develop an approach to study how apps operate and exchange data between platforms and networks. Complementing previous research on dating apps, our approach involves close attention to the intimacy of app data informed by a relational understanding of infrastructure. We experiment with the research persona as a methodological perspective to collect data at the intersection of five app-infrastructure relations – between app-user, app-device, app-social media, app-network and app-developer –, and initiate or advance an empirical inquiry into the specific materialisations of the data relationships. The final part of the article reflects on the conceptual and methodological implications of this approach beyond the study of dating apps.