Apps like Tinder connect people who otherwise might not have met.4 And they’re becoming more efficient at it all the time.5 Apps curate our choices,6 make it easier to ask out a stranger,7 and take a lot of the risk (and cold sweats) out of first dates.8 When it comes down to it, though, online dating operates by the same social rules as dating in real life—and suffers from the same human flaws.9 But data shows it works.10 As more matchmaking apps flood the market, entrepreneurs will experiment with new algorithms and features. Some will flop.11 But the ones that succeed will help us forge connections in ways we’ve never imagined.12
[Footnotes]
1
“Technology mediates all of our relationships, operating through shared pictures, texts, even emojis.” -Eric Klinenberg Back to top
2
“We can now be social with screens in ways we never could before. But chatting online is a supplement, not a substitute, for meeting face to face. We mistake that at our peril.” -E.K. Back to top
3
“Snapchat has become an incredibly popular way to flirt. People feel they can communicate with images in ways they can’t with words.” -E.K. Back to top
4
“Think of online dating sites as introduction services. The best way to use these technologies is to let them make the person-to-person connection happen more quickly.” -E.K. Back to top
5
“With traditional sites, like Match?com, dating can feel like a second job. Tinder, on the other hand, turns online dating into more of a game.” -E.K. Back to top
6
“The Internet has made people and ideas more disposable, whether romantic or any other kind. But it has also brought more ideas to people’s notice, so it kind of balances out.” -Christian Rudder Back to top
7
“The world in general is not amenable to strangers meeting; that’s why there are bars. Online dating is the newest venue created to meet people.” -C.R. Back to top
8
“You can online date from the privacy of your home. It’s safer in some ways because you’re not three beers in when you’re meeting someone.” -C.R. Back to top
9
“People are not good predictors of what they actually want. People have beliefs or biases that they’re not aware of, that they don’t want to own up to.” -C.R. Back to top
10
“Already a third of all marriages start online. And marriages take time. So imagine what that rate will be in three years.” -C.R. Back to top
11
“Dating will be photo-based until someone solves how to do video. But that content is way harder to moderate; Chatroulette is the prime example. You can’t let users upload videos of anything they want and hope for the best, because your site will fail.” -C.R. Back to top
12
“Future apps will allow you to make an online connection to someone you’re next to in real life but don’t have a way to contact. Geospatial will be the main thing. Version 3.0? I think it’s going to be teleportation. I’m kidding. Oh man, if I knew the answer to that question, I’d quit my job and move to Silicon Valley.” -E.K. Back to top
Ask the Experts
To find out which emojis you should (and shouldn’t) use to flirt, check out Emoji Users Have Sex on the Brain. This article was originally published in the January/February 2016 issue of Popular Science.
