In general I absolutely agree with you, I also never understood this either, and have chalked it up to being an "American-ism" (meaning: it's not something that

In general I absolutely agree with you, I also never understood this either, and have chalked it up to being an "American-ism" (meaning: it's not something that people do in my part of the world (=Europe)). But I still prefer to switch to a "normal messenger" when on tinder (e.g. WhatsApp is what most people in my area use) quickly. Mostly it's just part of playing the dating game: you don't use Tinder to talk to your friends or other people, so moving off that platform is a natural "next level". It also helps when meeting up (I can share my current location so it's easier to find me in a public place once we actually meet up). But in general I don't see this as an important step of dating.