What’s the first that comes to mind when you think about online dating? My mind goes directly to Tinder. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that 75% of single people in college have used Tinder at one point or another. I’ve been in relationships for most of my 20’s so I’m part of the 25% who has never used Tinder. I wanted to see what the hype was all about which is why I’ve been using it for the past month. Here are my thoughts on the free version of Tinder.
What is Tinder?
If you don’t know what Tinder is I’d love to meet you. Even my co-workers who are in their mid-40s and have a family know what Tinder is. I want to know what kind of lifestyle you live to not know what Tinder is. Tinder is an online dating app that lets users like or dislike other users based on their pictures and profile. The defining feature of Tinder is the swipe gesture where swiping right means you like the person and swiping left means “deuces, you ugly.” You’ll match when both users swipe right on each other which will allow you to talk to each other on Tinder’s messaging platform.
When you’re swiping away, you’ll notice some icons located at the bottom of the app. The yellow curved icon pointing to the left is the rewind button. If you’re swiping too quickly and realize “oh, shoot I meant to swipe right but swiped left”, you can go back to that profile and swipe right. This is a premium feature so you’ll have to pay to use this feature. The red x is another way to swipe left. The blue star means you Super Like which will let the user know you Super Liked them. The green heart is another way to swipe right. And finally, the purple lightning is a boost feature that will let your profile be seen by more people for a set period of time. This is also a premium feature.
Tinder doesn’t use a fancy algorithm to match you with friends of friends like Coffee Meets Bagel. Tinder lets you set preferences based on age range, gender, and a maximum distance of your current location. If you’re unlucky, there is a high probability that you’ll run into your ex while swiping furiously. This is where you should take control of the situation and just Super Like your ex so she knows you know that she’s on Tinder. All jokes aside, there is less emphasis on tailoring potential matches to your preferences compared to Coffee Meets Bagel. However, you’ll be exposed to a wider pool of people that aren’t eliminated just because you share a ton of mutual friends on Facebook.
The Tinder Experience
Tinder has been an interesting experience. To give a background about me, I’m an Asian male in my mid-20s. I am 5’10” which means I’m pretty much 6 feet tall. Kidding. There are a lot of articles out there about bias when it comes to online dating as an Asian male. These articles seem to convey Asian males get the short end of the stick when it comes to matching with people on Tinder. Personally, I did not see that using Tinder. If you measure success based on matches, I’ve had the most success on Tinder out of any of the other dating apps. The majority of my matches were with Asian women which makes sense because I am Asian. However, I still matched with people of all different races.
The reality is that Tinder is a very superficial dating app. Most guys make a decision if they think you’re hot and will make that decision in under a second. Some guys will even swipe right on everyone and filter based on their matches. There is only one trick to doing well on Tinder and that is to be good-looking. People are exposed to such a large pool of potential matches that the best way to stand out is by being attractive.
Tinder can be extremely frustrating at times. Check out my article on five of the most annoying things I’ve encountered on dating apps. Tinder can be a wasteland of bots, girls who are just looking for Instagram followers, and awkward conversations. Regardless, Tinder is a fun experience. You get a feeling of exhilaration every time you match with something. It’s like crack, it’s addicting. It’s probably why you’ll see people swiping for hours when they’re bored. I let my roommate swipe people on my Tinder account and he was still swiping away an hour later. He said, “dude, I’m not going to lie this is kind of addicting”. This is the reason why Tinder is so popular. There is instant gratification when you match with someone. I think Coffee Meets Bagel is the better app for finding someone to date because the users seem more serious about a relationship. However, I know tons of people who met their significant other on Tinder so there is a chance. Swipe away and good luck my friends.