Regardless of what you think about digital dating sites, they encourage us to close our computers and get out there and meet new people. In short, they bring people together. The problem is, of course, that there are infinite variations on social and mobile dating, from compatibility engines and social, Facebook-based platforms to game-ified bracelets and live video dating. Then there are the quasi-dating, people-meeting sites like Grouper. Some work, most don’t.
A new startup out of IAC’s business accelerator, Hatch Labs, thinks it has a shot to catch your attention amidst the noise by throwing out the bells and whistles and keeping it simple. Launched in October, Tinder is an iOS app that focuses on the social and mobile aspects of dating, while attempting to get rid of the creepy factor.
Co-founders Sean Rad, Justin Mateen, Jonathan Badeen, and Christopher Gulczynski tell us that, based on their experience, most dating sites offer too much rejection. They focus heavily on profiles (with photos), but many are fake, don’t tell you much and lead to message spam. Guys tend to be over-eager, send messages broadly to 200 girls and maybe one responds. It’s a waiting game and the rejection makes for a bad user experience. For women, it’s just creepy. As a result, few have really taken off and the biggest players in the dating world, the incumbents like Match.com and OkCupid, continue to hold the most mindshare among daters.
These incumbents can provide better matches and more structure, but they often require you to fill out a bunch of forms and tend to cater to a slightly older crowd. Having learned from Match.com (also owned by IAC), the Tinder founders decided to build a dating experience for a younger demographic â€" the mobile generation.
CEO Sean Rad says that he thinks Tinder is resonating with college students because the app has taken a more subtle approach to dating, as it doesn’t require users to “put themselves out there†to the same degree other apps require. In terms of how it works: Tinder is location-enabled, in that it shows you other people who nearby it thinks you might like to know, connecting you if you’re interested. The experience is anonymous until someone you like returns your interest, as you can anonymously “like†the person or skip to the next suggestion.
Unlike some other apps, Tinder doesn’t track location in the background, meaning that it doesn’t eat up battery life. When a user opens the app, Tinder captures their last known location, presenting it to other users with limited details â€" in the “worst-case†scenario, Rad says, it might say “Rip is <5 miles away." Fairly standard among mobile dating apps.
Tinder casts a 50 miles net around its users, taking users within that radius and giving them a rating based on their relevance to you. It displays people in order based on this score, so the person with the highest potential match is at the top. The score is based on shared friends (via Facebook), interests and networks. In turn, the more one uses Tinder, the more data it has on your tastes and preferences, tweaking its score based on those implicit signals it captures from user behavior.
There are a host of dating platforms built on top of Facebook data (and in some cases other others), like TheDatable, TheComplete.Me, Circl.es, and Yoke to name a few. While Tinder makes Facebook log-in mandatory and uses the social network's profiles to establish a baseline of trust and identity, the CEO says that the app doesn't share anything back to Facebook and doesn't post to Walls or Timelines.
The idea is that, once users have stated interest in each other, they can message the other person via chat, add each other on Facebook, leading to a meeting in person. At least that’s the idea. Based on location and shared interests, Tinder attempts to prequalify the relationship, Rad says, and Facebook authentication reduces a bit of the creepiness. The founders are trying to put more emphasis on one’s social circle than on interests, likely why the app is finding adopters on college campuses and among the recently graduated.
Going forward, the CEO says, the team wants to make it easier for users to meet by allowing them to throw a party in an area where you (and your friends) have more matches, for example, to create a more comfortable, “safer†and larger environment where they can mingle.
One thing working against Tinder is that, even as its user base grows, it doesn’t yet have a business model â€" though it’s still early in the game. The co-founders did say that they are confident monetization won’t come in the form of ads, instead, they’ll likely turn to in-app purchases. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you might be able to shell out a couple bucks to be able to send your matches a virtual flower or a dozen roses, for example. While virtual gifts may not represent a goldmine, it’s an appealing idea and one that’s proven fairly successful on Facebook.
Next, the co-founders plan to continue improving the app’s algorithms and, judging by some early user reviews, Tinder might want to consider establishing some sort of age range so that 30-year-old users aren’t seeing a bunch of 16-year-old matches, as well as build up infrastructure to prevent crashing.
Tinder may not blow you away with its innovation or shock with first-mover appeal, but by keeping things simple and social, improving algorithms, reducing creepiness and targeting young daters, the app very well could be hitting the right note and an attractive niche. Considering how fast SnapChat has taken off among younger generations, there’s a huge audience of excitable, mobile and social flirters out there. Two months from launch, Tinder has been able to maintain 65 percent daily active users (and 80 percent when a user is matched) and the 35 million profile ratings show it’s been able to capitalize (at least initially) on that viral hook.
There’s a lot of competition, but Tinder is creating an addicting experience that could stand to find big adoption on college campuses.
Check it out here.
Tinder is a mobile app that finds out who likes you nearby and connects you with them if you’re also interested. Tinder shows you someone nearby it thinks you should know You can anonymously like this person or skip to the next suggestion If someone you like happens to like you back, then Tinder makes an introduction and lets you chat within the app.
Hatch Labs is a mobile technology sandbox creating new products for 5 billion people with wireless devices. With investment and resources from IAC and Xtreme Labs, their entrepreneurial team rapidly prototypes new applications and services to best serve the evolving world of mobile. Hatch Labs is an IAC company.
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