Summer in the Sunflowers. Student Spotlight: Sabrina Siegel. A Weekend of Darkness. Finding love may be as simple as the swipe of your finger, as college student's flock to mobile dating solutions Tinder and Grindr. These apps have been topping charts in the Apple App Store and Google Play store since as early as the Summer months of , and have risen to fame ever since.
It's not surprising, either, as both apps offer a channel for individuals to rate and communicate with one another. The concept is not unlike those popular 'Hot or Not' styled websites that sprouted up in the late 90s where users are given a photo of another person, and they can decide whether they find them appealing or unattractive.
Tinder and Grindr have utilized social networking and location-based technology to bring this pastime to the hands of the bored, but interested, smartphone wielder.
While both apps offer the same basic idea establishing connections between interested individuals , they are not entirely equal. Tinder is focused more on heterosexual relationships, while Grindr is for just about everyone else. Here's how they work: you install the app, and you connect it with your Facebook profile. The apps will allow you to choose several photos to display, as well as load up your basic profile information interests, location, and friends. You then designate what age group you want to search for, the how far from you want your results to be located, and like magic, the matching profiles start filtering in.
Everything is based on snap judgments. If you find a person attractive you can swipe to the right, or forever cast them away into the corner of despair by swiping to the left. When two interested individuals are matched together they - gasp - are able to communicate with one another through a built in chat program.
