“Oh he’s cute, I’m totally gonna swipe right!”
There’s a good chance that if you heard a friend use this phrase about two years ago you would be quite concerned about them. Your mind would be racing to figure out what exactly “swipe right” was code for, which could take you down a path you didn’t want to be on.
The phrases “swipe right,” “swipe left” and “we matched” have emerged from a popular dating application called Tinder that launched in September 2012.
The application allows users to create a profile that consists of four to five photos of their choosing and a short description of themselves.
After the user has made a profile, they can specify what type of users they would like to see in their feed. Users are able to narrow down results by age, distance and gender. For example: a user could have the settings set to ages 20-28, male only and within 30 miles.
Once a user has their settings figured out they can begin filtering through the profiles of other users. Profiles of those fitting these specifications will be brought up one by one, giving the user a chance to see photos and read descriptions.
If the user would like to talk to someone they can swipe the person’s profile to the right of the screen and if they are not interested they can swipe the user to the left.
To get a match with someone on Tinder both parties need to swipe right, indicating that they would like a chance to talk with each other.
You will not be notified who swipes right on your profile unless you also swipe right on theirs. This means that only people who have shown interest in each other will be matched up. This part of the app prevents any unwanted contact between users. Once you have matched with someone, you are able to chat freely together.
Tinder, like many dating websites, allows users to have control over what other users are going to see. Tinder is a fast-paced dating application. The decision to swipe right or left can be made in about five seconds. Once someone has been swiped to left they will not reappear on the application — so users need to make their swipes count!
An article by the Huffington Post mentioned that the co-founder of the application, Justin Mateen, had reported that the app was being downloaded between 10,000 to 20,000 times a day. Mateen did not disclose how many active users the application had.
Kayla Anderson, a sophomore majoring in criminal justice at Weber State University, commented about why she downloaded Tinder. “I downloaded Tinder because people in class were talking about it,” Anderson said. “It was weird in general. It was very awkward because people wanted to meet up. I never met up with anyone and soon deleted it from my phone.”
Despite the popularity of the Tinder application, there are some who prefer not to dive into the world of online dating.
Muluwerk Hale, a sophomore at Weber State University said, “I have not used that application and I don’t think I would want to. When I meet someone it has to be face to face so I can get a feel for that person.”
