Tinder is looking to be more social – or at least hook you up along with your group of friends to connect with other friend groups out in the real world. The problem? Tinder users are being opted in to this feature by default, so you don't have a choice. Which means Tinder Social automatically displays which of your Facebook friends are also using Tinder.

This can make for some awkward conversation, especially for those who would rather keep their dating practices private.

To make matters more uncomfortable, Tinder Social presents a list of your friends along with their dating app profiles so you can not only see they are using the app, but how they are presenting themselves on Tinder. (Sexy photos, anyone?)

And worse yet, some Tinder users think Tinder Social is a way to meet others for group sex (and considering the whole hook-up reputation, it’s not that far of a stretch).

The new feature is only in the testing stages in certain parts of Australia, so chances are you haven’t encountered the feature just yet. This will give Tinder some time to refine it. The company will need to make some changes to reassure people about their privacy on the app. Over the years, it has stressed to users that their social networks would not be compromised, and that anything they do on the app wouldn’t be seen on Facebook or in their other social networks.

While there’s currently a way to opt out of the friend-finding feature, Tinder users are automatically opted in, so you actively have to disengage. A good fix would be to make it an opt-in feature only, so Tinder doesn’t risk alienating users who didn’t realize their profiles were being put on display among their social media friends.

Finding circles of friends seems to be a new wave in the dating app space, and an untapped market for an already attentive dating app population. CEO of Bumble Whitney Wolfe announced the company would be unveiling a similar group friend-finding feature on their app, and Grouper, a dating app that’s been around for a few years, offers group dates for people who don’t want the pressure of one-on-one dating. There’s also MeetUp, a networking site that has been around for a while to help people find friends in their communities through activities and other interests.

Many other apps are jumping on this new friend-finding bandwagon, hoping to capitalize on the social networking market. We’ll see if Tinder or another app can get people excited about the friend-finding potential of apps.

So you’re ready to take the plunge into the 21st century and try online dating. Before you join Match or download Tinder, you need to prepare yourself for what’s to come.

Online dating is a roller coaster of emotions. When it’s up, it’s amazing. When it’s down, it can be devastating. The best way to ride it successfully is to arm yourself against anything it can throw at you. Here’s what to expect when you sign up for a dating service:

#1 Anxiety.

Dating of any kind comes with its fair share of stress. Dating online when you’ve never done it before ups the anxiety factor significantly. You’ll fret over which pictures make you look good and represent who you are. You’ll agonize over every word in your profile. You’ll rewrite messages until you’ve done more drafts than a college student writing his thesis. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that every online dater has been there.

#2 Rejection.

It’s guaranteed to happen, especially if you’re a guy (sorry gentleman, it’s a hard truth of dating no matter how you do it). Rejection comes in many forms online and no one is immune. Many find it easy to say no to someone who’s just an anonymous profile. On the plus side, many also find it easier to handle rejection when it’s coming through a screen instead of face to face.

#3 Silence.

Your interest won’t always be returned, and not everyone will have the time or courtesy to tell you up-front. The casual approach many singles take to online dating means you will sometimes craft messages that go unanswered. One follow-up is fine if it’s someone you were really into, but anything more than that sends the wrong message.

#4 Flakiness.

Messages aren’t the only thing that might go mysteriously unanswered. Make plans to meet up with a match and when the big day arrives, they may suddenly cancel (or worse, just not show up). You’ll probably never know why they decided to flake, so don’t expect closure. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.

#5 Ghosting.

The worst of all flaky dating behavior is ghosting. Ghosting is the hip, buzzy term for the silent treatment. When someone you’re dating ends the relationship by cutting off all communication, with no explanation whatsoever, you’ve been ghosted. It’s confusing, and potentially painful, and there’s nothing you can do about it except move on.

#6 Spam Bots & Scammers.

There are a lot of genuine people on online dating sites. Most of them are genuine people. But not all. The reality is that some profiles belong to scammers looking for their next victim or robots trying to take your money. It’s important to date smart and steer clear of cons.

#7 Fibbers.

Even the people who aren’t looking to empty your bank account or steal your identity aren’t always honest. Fortunately, it mainly falls into white lie territory - add an inch or two to the height, take a pound or five off the weight - but sometimes the stories get more elaborate. If the person who shows up for your date looks nothing like the person in the profile, take comfort in the knowledge that you’ll have a killer story for Reddit later.

Millions of singles using dating services each day, searching through a stream of faces in hopes of finding a mate. Pictures have always been an important part of the online dating process, but with the rise of simple, image-centric mobile apps like Tinder, photographs are more important than ever.

New online dating research reveals a secret side to swiping. According to the study, potential dates may be evaluating you based not on your profile, but on the profile they saw before yours.

Huh?

"From an evolutionary perspective, attractiveness is a key social characteristic that determines how approachable or desirable we are. Perceived attractiveness is determined not only by our own attributes but by the attractiveness of people around us," says the study.

Here’s how that relates to your luck on Tinder. If your profile comes after an attractive person’s profile, you appear more attractive as a result and are more likely to score a left swipe. The opposite is also true: if an unattractive face comes before yours, you’re more likely to get a rejection.

Over two experiments, 32 women were shown 60 male profile pictures and asked to rate them as either attractive or unattractive. The images varied in composition, face size, clothing, and background cues. Researchers presumed that all the pictures were intended to attract female attention as they were sourced from heterosexual sections of dating sites.

Each participant looked at a computer screen that presented the profile photos. After about 300ms, they were asked to rate the image as attractive or unattractive. At the end of the experiments, the researchers concluded that profile pictures were significantly more likely to be deemed attractive if the picture in the previous profile was rated as attractive.

"While online dating is popular, and is certainly an efficient (and anonymous) way to sort through potential mates from the comfort of one's own home,” concludes the study, “it may not be quite as reliable as it seems given the recent evidence for sequential dependencies when judging rapid sequences of faces."

As you sort through a string of faces, evaluating each one in the few seconds it takes to swipe, you could be affected by this phenomenon - in which case, your final choice of desirable mate might be one face too late. Is this the start of songs about love at second sight?

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports and can be read in full here.To find out more about the dating app you can read our Tinder reviews.

I just turned 58-years-old and am still clicking on women’s faces appearing on OK Cupid, one of the most popular internet dating sites. No dates went beyond a few, but I have some great stories to tell. Here’s my favorite and most horrific which i call SCREENSAVER GIRL:

I took Screensaver Girl to a seafood restaurant in Sheepshead Bay. Our conversation was typical for a first OK Cupid date. A Q&A followed by the parts of our life stories that weren’t too revealing. We continued our conversation as we walked along the bay. Suddenly, she bent over the metal fence along the perimeter of the bay and regurgitated on the mother of a swan family.

Was it the calamari? That legendary squid? Who knows. All I knew was that Screensaver Girl turned the swan’s white head to dark green. After a few minutes, she raised herself back up. “I’m so sorry, Barry. I ruined a great evening.”

Love Donald Trump or hate him, there’s no denying he ignites passionate responses from both sides. But could the Republican presidential candidate ignite a passion of a different kind? Two new dating sites think the answer is yes.

In the pro-Donald camp is TrumpSingles.com, founded by a 35-year-old Republican hailing from Santa Clarita, California. Goss was inspired to create the site when he realized how difficult it can be to date someone with opposing political views.

“I think there’s a special stigma when people say they’re supporting Trump, because of some of the brash things that he’s said,” Goss told the New York Post. “That immediately gets [projected] on his supporters, and it makes it hard for them when trying to date.”

More than 500 users have reportedly joined TrumpSingles since it went live in May, primarily located in New York City, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC. Goss expressed fears that people would think it’s a parody site, but so far enough seem to understand his original intentions.

“People have told me that they’re so happy they can finally go on dates without worrying about political differences,” he said.

On the other side of the political spectrum is MapleMatch.com, a site that hopes to make dating great again by helping Americans find a Canadian partner in the event of a Trump presidency.

A 25-year-old Texan named Joe Goldman is the brain behind Maple Match. Goldman told NBC News that he was inspired by repeated threats from friends to flee the country if Trump wins the election in November.

"I have always been fascinated by Canada," he added. "So I thought to myself, 'Given the current political situation, this could bring Canadians and Americans closer together'."

His hunch may have been a good one. In just a week, a reported 13,000 people have signed up for the site. "The response has been tremendous,” Goldman said. "I'm getting people from all over, but the strongest responses have been from Seattle and New York City.”

Trump isn’t the only presidential candidate inspiring love. For Democrats, there’s BernieSingles.com. The site promises to “connect progressives beyond social media to inspire chemistry among folks who share similar visions of the future.” It also comes with the most memorable tagline of the bunch: “The 1% are not the only ones getting screwed this election season.”

Trump? Check. Sanders? Check. Hillary - it’s your move now.

A team of Danish researchers caused an uproar last month by publishing data from the online profiles of nearly 70,000 OkCupid users. Information including usernames, political leanings, drug usage, and intimate sexual details were exposed, creating a massive privacy crisis.

The researchers, Emil Kirkegaard and Julius Daugbjerg Bjerrekær, used data scraping software developed by a third contributor, Oliver Nordbjerg, to collect the information. It was used for a study that analyzed members of OkCupid across a variety of factors. The database was posted along with a draft paper on Open Science Framework, a “scholarly commons” that supports open source research and collaboration.