Tinder has become known worldwide mainly through college students and young adults. It is as if our young population cannot socialize in a proper manner in order to talk to the same or opposite sex.
The mobile app manages 750 million “swipes” per day, leading to 10 million introductions and 5 million matches according to an article by Danny Sullivan for Marketing Land.
Sean Rad, CEO of Tinder, has shared that with the app he is trying to “mirror how people date in real life, only better.” Much like seeing your ex on a date with your friend, an entire friend group can end up matching with one guy. On a campus as small as ours, it’s not an unlikely phenomenon and it’s happened to me before. In my use of Tinder I’ve matched with about 40 other members, and the experience has ranged from pleasant to downright disturbing.
Match #1 was actually working for Zoosk, another dating site, and he monitors other dating apps to collect data and see what Zoosk can improve on. I bet some of you never knew there were actually people out there matching with you just because they are competing with other dating sites and need information.
Zoosk, which is one of Tinder’s direct competitors, made about $178 million in the year 2013. Tinder is expected to reach $1.1 billion by 2015, at a $5.68 billion market cap.
According to Sean Rad’s statement, he is looking for making this a dating app, as it was in the past. But society made an opportunistic approach to turn this into a hot spot for sexually active members located near you. Of course the app is really what you make of it at the end of the day.
The psychology behind this app is amazing. It’s the hot or not approach; picking through the opposite and/or same sex to find who you think is attractive.
Match #2 had told me he does not use Tinder for the use of dating or hooking up. He says it is just for his entertainment, he likes seeing what kind of people he can match with. Match #3 tried to hook up with me the moment he talked to me, which quickly told me what he was using the app for.
Match #4 said he has been using Tinder for about a week. “It is an easier way to socialize due to limited time,” he said.
He said he was more inclined toward a relationship than a hookup, but his shirtless selfies told me otherwise. Match #5 asked if I wanted to come over and watch Netflix at 1:33 in the morning and ladies, we all know what that means… There is admittedly a small chance you really would be watching Netflix, but results may vary. When I talked to him the next morning he confessed, “Honestly, last night probably was not about Netflix.”
Match #6 simply asked, “Do you like d*ck pics?”
My answer was no.
This generic app has a new feature, “Moments,” where you post extra pictures of yourself so your matches can see them, giving you a higher chance of them talking to you.
It shares some traits with Instagram: you can change the look of the picture, making the image more attractive.
Users can also “like” other users’ photos, much like Instagram, without offering any additional communication and keeping the whole thing very low-commitment.
If you go to the app’s webpage, it shows a video of friends getting together and going out to the tune of “I believe” by Basic Vacation. This makes Tinder look more like a wholesome social network and less like the “let’s bang” sexually-charged phenomenon that it is.
A lot of girls on Tinder are more than likely not trying to hook up, but they are looking for attention from different guys, and with this app they are given this opportunity in private.
All girls have to worry about is the off chance that they are talking with a couple guys that are rooming together, or talking to the same guy as their roommate. Awkward.
The majority of girls are on this ‘dating’ site for compliments. Once a girl has gotten her ego boost for the night, will she level with the guy she’s talking to and go for a meet-up? Or are the compliments all she came for?
I have found that a majority of my matches are online for the sake of hooking up which is essentially what this app is geared for.
I would not prefer the “Tinder hook up” because I feel dehumanized by the app and would rather have a real, organic interaction.