Swipe left, swipe right—swipe up?
Tinder succeeded in designing a simple yet fun dating app centered around two smartphone gestures: swipe left on a person’s profile to pass, or swipe right to say you’re interested (two people are matched when they swipe right on each other’s profiles). But starting today (Oct. 1), the company is giving users another option: swipe up for “super like.”
This new feature, which is being released globally, will let users indicate a higher level of interest—and potentially cut through the noise of the dating app. Tinder users will be able to swipe up once per day; those who pay for Tinder Plus (variable pricing depending on location and age) will get five each day. If a person has been “super liked,” he or she will see a blue star on the profile of the person who swiped up (see left image).
It’s become a common strategy, especially among men, to swipe right on every possible candidate to increase the chances of finding the one (or ones). In 2014, New York magazine interviewed a man with one of the most desired online dating profiles in the city, and he revealed the secret to his Tinder success was swiping right on every potential match—a practice he admitted was “disgusting.” And now that the secret’s out, it’s only become more widespread—a problem for Tinder, which has been trying to move past its reputation as a hookup app.
A representative would not say if that was a motivation for the new “super like” feature, but noted it was created “to provide additional functionality that our users have been asking for.”
From Tinder’s early tests in Australia, users are three times more likely to be matched with someone they “super like.” Conversations initiated by an upward swipe last 70% longer, “significantly increasing the likelihood of real interaction,” according to the company.