Tinder is a well-known app for hookups because let's face it that's why a majority of the users are on tinder and then another majority doesn't really have a reason to be on the app so they just end up hooking up with people. But there is a handful of people that meet their significant other on tinder or they become friends with someone off tinder so it's not all about having sex with a stranger. Basically, the app helps you meet people that are nearby.
Now with this new feature called Tinder U, a college student is going to be able to meet people that are going to the same college as them or a college nearby.
If you don't know what Tinder U is, it's a new feature that tinder released that helps college students swipe on people that go to their college and colleges nearby. For Tinder U to work, you will have to be on campus and log in to tinder using your .edu email address and also verify your email address for the first time. Other times you want to use Tinder U, you'll have to be geolocated on campus.
After being "accepted" into Tinder U, your school logo will show up at the top of your account and at the bottom of each individual profile picture, it will show your school and school colors.
Now say you're on campus and Tinder U pops up but you would like to swipe based on location and not based on your fellow students or students nearby, there will be a toggle at the top that you can press to switch to location-based swiping.
For right now Tinder U is only on IOS devices at 4-year accredited not-for-profit school in the U.S. that deliver courses face-to-face. This new feature came with the understanding that half of the tinder users are between the ages 18 and 24.
While I think this a nice feature, it helps college student connect with other college students, all it really does is have us rely on an app to bring us a social life.
If looking for new friends on campus this can be cool, looking for people to study with, or get coffee with, or even to just become friends with because you're new to campus. It's nice to have this as a choice or a second plan to get more friends but I do think that this will become a more priority than actually talking to people that are around us. We already don't really have conversations with people around us and now Tinder U will just make it easier for us to not do that.
It also helps people that just want a hookup to have a hookup which I guess is a plus for them. This makes the hookup culture more alive than any other app or any party.
When thinking about this new feature, it's a little awkward. The whole purpose of tinder in the first place is to swipe right on people you think are attractive which is where matches come from. A match is made up of a mutual attraction from both people so you might swipe left on a person that swiped right on you or even super liked you, and then within the next hour or a day later, you might see that person face-to-face.
Tinder U is a great idea, bringing people on campus closer to each other but it just gives people another reason to just meet people online.
