Ten years after its launch, Tinder has shaken up the codes of flirting
The dating app Tinder celebrates its tenth anniversary. With its “swipes”, “matches” and “likes”, the platform has become essential, upsetting the way we look at dating and romantic relationships.
Launched on September 12, 2012, the flame app is now available in 190 countries, has been downloaded more than 500 million times and generated more than 70 billion “matches”.
“It’s a huge industry,” concedes sociologist Olivier Glassey Monday in 12:45. “These kinds of companies are also incredibly efficient in collecting data. We’re talking about hundreds of pages of data about ourselves that we deliver to these giants. Afterwards, they will try to put this data to work, either in different types of dating sites, or perhaps for other types of uses.”
>> The complete explanations of Olivier Glassey:
“The Promise of Happiness”
The RTS has collected the testimony of Mathieu, who wishes to find love. For two years, he has already created several profiles on Tinder before getting tired of the lack of interesting meetings.
“It may be an addiction, but above all the belief that you can meet the right person. You tell yourself that you have to try your luck. It’s the promise of happiness”, delivers the 44-year-old bachelor.
According to sociologist Jessica Pidoux, Tinder is like a search engine. With one difference. “Instead of going looking for something specific, we will find immediate answers. Tinder offers us people immediately, a huge amount of profiles to evaluate. The application also makes us believe that we are going to miss an opportunity and c This is what attracts us to come back since we increase the probability of finding a person”, explains the specialist in La Matinale.
>> Also listen to the analysis in Forum of two researchers on dating applications:
Narcissistic use?
For Olivier Glassey, Tinder is “a kind of infinite store in which you never know if you’ve reached the end of the shelf”. A vast field of exploration, but also of frustration.
“Nearly 40% of people who use this application say they do so to feel better, to have a positive feedback on their image. It’s a bit narcissistic use, but just as important in the interest of the application. On the other hand, it’s also a very harsh universe, not to mention the manipulations of the algorithm. You can find yourself alone in front of yourself, it can hurt, especially if the ‘matches’ are not there”, underlines the sociologist.
While Tinder is still the number one dating app, the number of new users was down 5% last year, according to the Financial Times. The reason: the disinterest of Generation Z, people born in the early 2000s, and the growing number of new platforms of this type.
>> Tinder celebrates its 10th anniversary. Details in La Matinale:
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