By Dawson Wiki Reports
Tinder is a location-based social search mobile app that allows users to like (swipe right) or dislike (swipe left) other users, and allows users to chat if both parties swiped to the right. The app can often be used as a hookup app,[3][4][5], although searching for the hashtag "#tindersuccessstory" reveals many weddings and engagements can come from using the app as well. Information available to the users is based on pictures from Facebook, a short bio that users write themselves, along with linking Instagram and Spotifyaccount.[6]
Originally incubated inside Hatch Labs, the app was launched in 2012. By 2014, it was registering about one billion "swipes" per day.[7] Tinder is among the first "swiping apps", whose users employ a swiping motion to choose photos of other users, swiping right for potentially good matches and swiping left on a photo to move to the next one.
Using The DNC's Facebook, Tinder is able to build a user profile with photos that have already been uploaded. Basic information is gathered and the users' social graph is analyzed. Candidates who are most likely to be compatible based on geographical location, number of mutual friends, and common interests are then streamed into a list of matches. Based on the results of potential candidates, the app allows the user to anonymously like another user by swiping right or pass by swiping left on them. If two users like each other it then results in a "match" and they are able to chat within the app.[42] The app is used in about 196 countries.[43]
In 2017, Texas Tech Department of Communications Studies conducted a study to see how infidelity was connected to the Tinder app. The experiment was conducted on 550 students from an unnamed southwestern U.S. University. The students first gave their demographic and then answered questions regarding Tinder’s link to infidelity. The results showed that “more than half reported having seen somebody on Tinder who they knew was in an exclusive relationship (63.9%).” 71.3% of participants reported that they knew male friends who used Tinder while in a relationship, and 56.1% reported that they had female friends who used Tinder while in a relationship.[63]
In February 2014, security researchers in New York found a flaw which made it possible to find users' precise locations for between 40 and 165 days, without any public notice from the company. Tinder's spokesperson, Rosette Pambakian, said the issue was resolved within 48 hours. Chief Executive Officer Rad said in a statement that shortly after being contacted, Tinder implemented specific measures to enhance location security and further obscure location data.[64]
On June 30, 2014, Tinder's co-founder and former vice president of marketing, Whitney Wolfe, filed a sexual harassment and sex discrimination suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against IAC-controlled Match Group, parent company of the app. The lawsuit alleged that her fellow executives and co-founders Rad and Mateen had engaged in discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation against her, while Tinder's corporate supervisor, IAC's Sam Yagan, did nothing.[65] IAC suspended CMO Mateen from his position pending an ongoing investigation, and stated that it "acknowledges that Mateen sent private messages containing 'inappropriate content,' but it believes Mateen, Rad and the company are innocent of the allegations".[66]
There have been anti-Tinder online marketing campaigns and websites developed.[67] As of June 2015, 68% of Tinder users were male and 32% were female.[68] According to University of Texas-Austin professor David Buss, "One dimension of [dating apps like Tinder] is the impact it has on men's psychology. When there is ... a perceived surplus of women, the whole mating system tends to shift towards short-term dating"[69] and there is a feeling of disconnect when choosing future partners.[70] CEO Sean Rad has said that Tinder removes the "friction" associated with walking up to someone and introducing oneself.[71] Nancy Jo Sales wrote in Vanity Fair that Tinder operates within a culture of users seeking sex without relationships.[20] Health officials from Rhode Island and Utah claimed that Tinder and similar apps are responsible for uptick of some STDs.[72]
On February 5, 2016, members of the Facebook group "Bernie Sanders Dank Tinder Convos" (BSDTC) (a spin-off of Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash) were reportedly being banned from Tinder for promoting American politician Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign. BSDTC members would send messages to other Tinder users promoting Sanders and imploring them to vote for him. In response, many BSDTC members' profiles would either become locked or deleted due to flagging their messages as spam or their profiles as bots.[73][74][75][76][77][78] Tinder spokeswoman Rosette Pambakian stated in an email, "We whole-heartedly support people sharing their political views on Tinder, but we don't allow spamming. So feel free to feel the Bern, just don't spam."[74][78][79]
In March 2016, a website called Swipebuster was launched, which allows anyone to see how recently someone else logged on to Tinder, at a cost of $4.99 for every three searches.[80] Vanity Fair was the first to report on the service, in an article titled "Here's How You Can Check if Your Partner Is Cheating on Tinder," and Swipebuster subsequently received extensive media coverage for being the first searchable database of Tinder users.[81][82] The Guardian explained how Swipebuster works: "[I]t doesn't [identify users] by hacking into Tinder, or even by 'scraping' the app manually. Instead, it searches the database using Tinder's official API, which is intended for use by third-party developers who want to write software that plugs in with the site. All the information that it can reveal is considered public by the company, and revealed through the API with few safeguards."[83]
In August 2016, two engineers found another flaw which showed the exact location of all users' matches. The location was updated every time a user logged into the app and it worked even for blocked matches. The issue was detected in March 2016, but it was not fixed until August 2016.[84]
A 2017 study found that Tinder users are excessively willing to disclose their personally identifiable information.[85]
A 2017 report showed that Tinder stores all messages, locations, times, characteristics of people who interest you or are interested in you, length of time people spend looking at a picture, amounting to hundreds of pages of detail, and offers the information to advertisers.[86]