Tinder app grows in popularity

Forget agonizing for hours over whether or not someone finds you attractive— with new social media app Tinder, you can find out whether people you think are hot feel the same way about you by simply swiping your phone screen. The “hot or not” platform allows users to make connections after mutual hot ratings of profile pictures.

Tinder was originally piloted on college campuses, and that is where it seems to have taken hold the most. Whether used as a joke or as a true effort to meet singles in the area, Tinder has spread like wildfire from campus to campus.

“While out at dinner with some friends, I was asked if I ‘Tinder,’” said freshman Josh Dubin, “When I replied no, they looked at me in disbelief and told me I had to start.”

With the growing number of profiles, it’s more likely that you’ll run into pictures of people you know. Maybe it’s the girl you see in the Danforth University Center but have always been too shy to talk to, or maybe it’s the cute guy who sits on the complete opposite side of Laboratory Sciences 300. Tinder may be your chance to connect with someone you recognize but have never actually introduced yourself to.

“Tinder’s beneficial because it connects you with people in your area as opposed to across the nation on other dating sites,” freshman Ginger Lu said. “It connects Wash. U. college students with other schools like [Saint Louis University].”

Simply by providing your name and up to four of your best-looking pictures from Facebook, the app instantly matches you up with singles from your area. If you and another person find each another attractive from the presented photographs, then Tinder alerts you that you have a match and encourages you to “send a message” and perhaps even kindle a spark between the two of you.

“The great thing about Tinder is the fact that you don’t have to spend hours perfecting your account. You merely have to put up the pictures that you have on Facebook anyway. This way, if you’re bored in class, you can always just Tinder away,” freshman Michael Siu said.

Most Wash. U. students seem to agree, however, that many Tinder users don’t seem to take the app very seriously. “I’m pretty sure everyone who uses Tinder views it as creepy, and I have yet to figure out why so many girls use it,” said Dubin. “I think it’s just something fun to do when I’m bored or in class.”

Up-and-coming campus blogger freshman Melissa Tucker, in a recent post about the growing Tinder phenomenon, featured a post from freshman Julian Clarke. Clarke wrote, “It’s like a mobile fraternity party except leaps and bounds easier (albeit slightly creepier). Replace drunk-stumbling over to girls and trying to dance with (read: on) them with anonymously saying you think they’re attractive. If said person thinks you’re cute, too, Tinder will let you know you have a match. There’s nothing to lose.”

Overall, it seems that the app serves as more of an in-between-classes time-waster than a surefire way to meet sexy St. Louis singles. But don’t completely write off your Tinder matches because you never know what could happen.

“There have been occasional matches that led to conversations which have lasted as long as a month, but I’m only still talking to them in the hopes that I get a nude pic,” Dubin admitted.