Tinder

Everyone loves to skip the line. There’s a special satisfaction that comes from strolling past the unfortunates stuck in the queue, throwing a confident nod to the bouncer, and sashaying through the door without even flashing an ID.

Whether or not you have that kind of clout at clubs, you now have it online. Tinder is rolling out a new feature called ‘Boost’ that lets users skip the digital line for a fee.

“You’ve got people to meet and places to be. In fact, Tinder was designed with this in mind, providing you a simple, fun introduction to new people nearby so you can get out and meet them in the real world,” reads the official blog announcement. “Still, sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day and what you need is a boost in the right direction.”

Dating app giant Tinder is trying to expand its influence beyond the dating scene. While the dating market has essentially built the app’s user base, Tinder execs feel that moving outside of this niche to include a larger portion of the population will reap some obvious benefits.

Fear not daters, you can still swipe left and right to date people with the original Tinder app. The new app is a totally separate experience, called Tinder Stacks, and it’s basically a social media voting tool. It’s all about group decision-making.

According to an article in The Verge, Tinder works through your iMessage app to allow you to contact multiple friends and choose a bunch of pictures from your phone to send to them. Message recipients will then be able to go through your “stack” of photos and swipe left and right, depending on whether or not they approve of or like each one. (You can also add a question to the stack, such as “which dress makes me look the most sexy?”) As the voting takes place, the sender will be able to see how many likes and skips each image receives.

Tinder & Spotify Partner

Tinder has swiped right on a relationship with Spotify. The online dating app and music streaming service are partnering to launch a handful of new features for musically-inclined singles.

“Tinder already suggests matches based on your swiping preferences, mutual friends and common interests, but we know we can always add more to the equation,” says Tinder’s company blog. “That’s why we’ve matched with Spotify to integrate music into the swiping experience.”

Two big changes are on their way for Tinder users. First, users who connect their Spotify accounts to Tinder are now able to display their top songs on their profiles. All Tinder users can play previews of other people’s top songs via Spotify, without leaving their Tinder profiles. If you have your Spotify account connected, you’ll also be able to see which artists you have in common with potential dates.

Animated GIFs may help with Online Dating

The internet has fully embraced the GIF - a form of visual communication so ubiquitous it’s second only to the omnipresent emoji.

And why wouldn’t they be? It’s hard to carry on a conversation between screens, to read emotion in text, to interpret the difference between “K” and “K.” and “K!” An image, moving or not, goes a long way to making your message clear.

And then there’s online dating. Dating apps and websites come with their own special challenges. Users are not only faced with the worries of regular online communication, but also the fears and anxieties of dating. How do you find the delicate balance between flirty forwardness and respectful tact when you’re talking to a total stranger you can’t even see?

Swiping could leave you with the love of your life, or crippled confidence. A new survey from the University of North Texas found that singles who used Tinder are more likely to have lower self-esteem and feel unhappy about their looks than people who don’t use dating apps.

“Tinder users reported having lower levels of satisfaction with their faces and bodies and having lower levels of self-worth than the men and women who did not use Tinder,” said Jessica Strübel, PhD, who presented the research at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association.

It’s no secret that women tend to fare better in online dating than men, at least as far as opportunities. Women receive far more messages and matches compared to their male counterparts, which can be frustrating for guys who are looking for something more serious than a hook up, but can’t seem to get to a match, let alone a first date.

But to be fair, women don’t have an easy time online dating either. They receive many more unsolicited and even offensive messages and texts, including inappropriate photos and abusive or threatening messages, which is why they have to be more selective in who they communicate with.

So, the gap between men and women in online dating has grown even wider, especially with dating apps like Tinder where men can “mass swipe” right on women, hoping to increase their chances of meeting someone special, while women's inboxes are flooded.