Tinder Releases Its Year in Swipe Report
Contributed by: kellyseal on Wednesday, January 06 2021 @ 09:14 am
Last modified on Wednesday, January 06 2021 @ 09:58 am
Dating app Tinder released[*1] its annual report The Year in Swipe, and found that while the pandemic dominated the year, dating apps benefitted with an increase in subscriptions and user activity.
While many singles were stuck at home they chose to connect virtually, with messages and swipes up by double digits compared to back in February, according to Inside Hook[*2] .
“Travel” was the most-used term this year, especially around March and April when the first lockdowns began and people had to cancel their plans. Also popular in 2020 were pandemic-related ice breakers, with many using the phrase “quarantine and chill” and discussing mask wearing habits and protocols with their matches.
In the UK, there were 122% more mentions of the NHS (the country’s national healthcare system) in May compared to January of 2020 according to Refinery29[*3] , a nod to the healthcare workers who have been taking care of so many during the pandemic.
Gen Z had a big influence on Tinder’s report, as more young people turned to dating apps this year to meet and connect with people. Politics was a leading discussion topic among this group, and many users chose to advertise their political beliefs in their bios without waiting for the subject to come up in conversation. Discussions around voting doubled as we headed into the November election.
Mentions of Black Lives Matter was a huge standout – with mentions up 55 times more than the average, especially during the summer when the protests loomed large. The phrase was also used more times in chats than the phrase “hook up” during all of 2020.
TikTok was a popular topic as well, especially among Gen Z users, with many sharing links to the video platform with their matches. Songs were a big topic of discussion in many chats, with the most popular for 2020 being “Blinding Lights” by The Weeknd, as well as Cardi B’s “WAP.”
Megan Thee Stallion was among Tinder users’ top artists too, and is now partnering with the app in a contest for users to help them revise their profiles to be more authentic and creative. Tinder is offering 100 winners each $10,000 in prize money, so expect the competition to be fierce.
Also of note: pop culture and TV had a huge year on Tinder, with the series Tiger King as the front runner of discussions. According to Tinder, "Carole Baskin killed her husband" was a common dealbreaker in bios.
The company even measured emoji use, and according to Mashable, the shrug and the black heart were the most popular emojis used in chats over Tinder this year.
A video was also released which includes a summary of the 10 essential trends that Tinder picked for 2020:
Tinder also included updated statistics on the page for the YouTube video above explaining that their dating app has been downloaded more than 400 million times and has led to 55 billion matches.
For more information on this dating service you can read our Tinder app review.