What is Tinder?
Tinder is a mobile dating app following the ‘hot or not’ principle. Basically, all you do is approve or reject people in your area primarily based on their picture by swiping to the left (Nope!) or right (Liked!).
Besides the picture, you can see if you have any Facebook friends or likes in common. This way, Tinder seems to be less superficial. But let’s be honest, common interests won’t matter that much if you are not attracted to the person in the picture in the first place. In case someone you approved comes across your profile and likes you, too, you are being matched. Now, the two of you can chat with one another and (possibly) meet in person.
With that casual dating strategy, Tinder became very popular in the States and is currently taking over other countries such as Brazil and the United Kingdom. In fact, over 450 million profiles are being every day and its network is growing weekly by 15%. If that’s not impressive then I don’t know what is.
Okay but what is Tinder really?
Is it a dating app or an easy way to hook up? Well, Justin Mateen, one of Tinder’s co-founders, said that Tinder was never used for hooking up and that “women aren’t wired that way”. That’s the reason why “it wouldn’t have worked” if it was developed only for that specific purpose. Many blogs and Tinder users, in particular, tend to have a different answer. Simply google “Tinder hook up” and see for yourself. For many people, Tinder is, in fact, a casual way to meet someone with the (ulterior) motive of spending the night together. James Brown, editor of Sabotage Times, wrote a funny piece on how Tinder took over his office and was excessively used to ‘get laid’. Tinder even has its own definition on Urban Dictionary which is as follows: Dating app. Tinder is the McDonalds for sex.
I can only agree with that. I think Tinder is a superficial way to meet other people with a more or less shared motive. Avid Tinder users swipe through dozens of profiles in less than a minute leaving no time for someone to leave a proper first impression. That has not much to do with dating if you ask me. However, if you’re looking for adventures and some casual fun, then this app is actually for you. There is nothing wrong in spending some quality time with a match. Hell, who knows, maybe you’ll end up marrying that person. Justin Mateen stated that they’re planning to evolve Tinder into a social-discovery app and to create a better engagement with one’s matches. I’m curious what exactly those plans are and if they can get rid of the ‘hook up’ image. If you want to try out Tinder yourself, the app is available for Android and iOS. What are your experiences with Tinder? How did your Tinder dates go? Please share your stories with us in the comments!
