The dating app Tinder unveiled new features on Thursday to enable “more relevant” connections, thanks to in-depth knowledge of the user. Since its creation in 2012, the subsidiary site of the Match.com group has, among other things, been known for its “swipe” system, which allows you to quickly review dozens of profiles.
“Swiping remains an essential element of what Tinder is today,” Hillary Paine, vice-president of product, explains to AFP, but the new features are aimed “at users who want something a little more personalized.” The Los Angeles company, market leader, is currently testing the “Chemistry” option, which will submit a unique profile per day to the user.
“A better understanding of your personality”
It will be selected using artificial intelligence (AI), based on the information provided in the account but also (later this year) a questionnaire and other clues, such as photo archives, subject to authorization. In doing so, “we have a better understanding of your personality, your style and what matters to you,” describes Tinder in a press release.
“We use AI to identify more relevant connections,” summarizes Spencer Rascoff, boss of Tinder and Match, quoted in the press release. Against all expectations, these new modes of consumption of the platform mainly respond to a demand from young users rather than older ones. The same goes for the music mode, already existing, which gives greater weight to musical tastes when bringing two profiles together, or the brand new astrology mode.
It is also, adds Hillary Paine, with this age category in mind that Tinder is currently testing the organization of in-person events for its subscribers, part of a trend embodied in particular by the new application 222. “Gen Z (born after the arrival of the internet) want to socialize”, notes the manager, “put down their phone and meet people”.
“Less pressure than the classic one-on-one”
These events, as well as the new “double date” format which brings together two friends each with a person they met on Tinder, “tend to put less pressure than the classic tête-à-tête”, deciphers Hillary Paine. “At worst, I had fun with a friend,” she argues. “At best, I met someone.”
If they now constitute, by far, the first way to find a partner, dating applications are seeking to renew themselves to improve their image. According to a survey published in July by the magazine’s website Forbes78% of users said they felt, at times or regularly, “emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted” by frequenting these platforms.
Are Tinder’s new features, like in-person events or “double dates,” appealing to you?
