Tinder, an American geosocial networking and online dating application, is the flagship app of Match, an online dating portal. Match recently announced that plans to introduce a new live event through Tinder, called “Vibes.” This new feature is an amalgamation of features from Tinder’s previous events, Swipe Surge and Swipe Night. This will create a new in-app experience that is both time-sensitive and focused on finding unique ways for users to begin conversations.
Swipe Surge, a long-time feature on Tinder, informs users when the degree of Tinder usage in the area is higher than usual. During such time periods, which are referred to as Surges, activity may be up to 15x times higher than it would be under normal circumstances. As a result, users’ potential to get matched rises by 250%. They are alerted through either push notifications or whenever they open the app.
Meanwhile, Swipe Night, which is no longer active, was an in-app interactive series that allowed users to make choices in a “choose-your-own-adventure” format. Those choices were then displayed on user profiles for a short amount of time, which gave new matches topics to converse on when initially talking to each other.
Vibes includes elements from both of these features. Akin to Swipe Surge, users will be alerted to the Vibes events via push notifications when someone is available to engage in a conversation with them. If notifications for Tinder are turned off, they will see this when they open the app. Like Swipe Night, they will be able to have something to say to each other with the exception of an awkward “hey.”
Vibes provides users with a series of questions ranging from personality traits to pop culture, with examples being “How do you feel about cooking?”, or “What have you been doing during the pandemic?”. Their preferences will be posted on their profile for everyone to see, which is similar to what happens with Swipe Night. This will be the case for 72 hours. When matches who participated in specific questions Vibes begin to chat, they will be able to see each other’s responses directly within the chat window. Mutual answers will be highlighted.
Vibes also works to encourage the use of Tinder’s video chat feature, which was in the testing process last year. According to a spokesperson from Tinder, users of Vibes will have the option to continue their conversations on video, with each event lasting for only 48 hours. Assuming that Vibes does appeal to Tinder users, the feature could give Tinder a sudden upsurge any time it needed to drive more engagement for its app.
