The newest trend in online dating is the Tinder app, which shows pictures of girls in your geographic area that you can rate as “Hot” or “Not.” If you “match” with someone, you are both notified and can message each other within the app. Though we’ve written before about the pitfalls of online dating, here are a few reasons why Tinder can be a valuable addition to your game:
1. Target Selection/ Quality
I’ve found Tinder to have a much more favorable ratio of decent girls than other online venues. The median age is probably about 22, with large numbers of college girls looking to meet people outside of school. Like any online dating service, you’re going to get the most out of Tinder if you are young and good looking, but it can provide a few valuable leads on younger girls who are already open to dating older men. It’s doubly useful if you don’t live near a college campus and rarely see these girls in the wild.
2. Time Efficiency
Tinder’s elegant design allows you to avoid drudgery of composing messages, rapid fire copypasta, hiding fatties, listing your hobbies, and answering match questions. The app cuts through this useless B.S. to the the elemental question of dating: “Do I find this person attractive?” You can spend a few minutes at a time swiping people left or right according to your interest, and the app provides a convenient instant messaging interface for initial contact.
3. Interest Efficiency
On OKCupid, girls can keep a profile dormant while they rake in messages from simps that feed their ego without having to leave their house, actually creating a perverse incentive for them NOT to go on actual dates. With Tinder, they are able to get messages only from men they have proactively flagged as being attractive. You’ll still get some of the inevitable flaking and attention-whoring, but if you match with a girl on Tinder you know she at least has a certain level of initial interest you can work with.
There’s a small learning curve to using Tinder, but here are three ways you can maximize your experience out of the box:
1. Use Your Best Pictures
This should be priority one for any dating profile, and even more important on Tinder due to the lack of other communication prior to getting swiped. My hit rate up significantly after switching to a picture that I thought was only slightly better than my previous one.
2. Get The Number Quickly
Like other online dating venues, girls are inundated with the sheer volume of thirsty guys. She swiped you because she thought you were cute, but if she won’t give you her number after a few back and forth messages (no more than 3-4 typically necessary), you can safely assume she’s not interested and just move on. Though the flake rate is still high, there are fewer guys competing for her attention. The numbers game will work more to your advantage because there’s already some preselection at work. Move it over as quickly as possible to a more permanent method of communication, because sometimes girls will forget to check the app for new messages.
3. Use Liberally During Travel
Travel is one situation where Tinder really shines. Though it only searches within a radius of your own location (rather than letting you filter by geographic area), Tinder helps you get dates even if you did not pipeline before leaving. The best method is to swipe through as many girls as you can on your first day in town, preferably as soon as you arrive. If you’re in a populated area, you will pick up several matches over the ensuing days as girls log into their profiles, and you can set up meetings for later during the trip or the next time you are in that town.
You will find that the short-engagement nature of Tinder does not detract from real life game or demotivate you from making actual approaches like other online dating sites tend to do. No electronic approach is a substitute for real life game, but Tinder represents an efficient supplement to the usual methods — once you swipe a girl, she’s out of sight and mind unless you match. For a few minutes at a time and minimal messaging, you can add a few prospects you might not otherwise encounter.
Don’t Miss: 6 Types Of Guys Who Try To Get Laid Online
