8 ms·

Tinder Cuddles Up to Instagram in Latest Update

47 points by simas 11y ago

thomasfoster96 11y ago
I'm not sure Tinder got the nth-degree thing quite right - first degree is someone I know, not someone who I have a mutual connection with.
- screwedup 11y ago
  Goddamn engineers, always counting from 0...
  - JamesSwift 11y ago
    I would love to hear this end up being a feature not a bug, where the programmer, in fact, began his counting from 0.
  - thomasfoster96 11y ago
    I would've thought a 0th degree connection is myself.
- pappyo 11y ago
  I think they did. The users of Tinder don't need Tinder to tell them the friend they already have, they need it to tell them where potential matches are. So lowering the standard of degree that Linkedin uses would (I assume Tinder would argue) lower the barrier to foster communication between potential matches. You're not going to use Tinder to date your friend. But you would use it to date your friend's friend. Smart move by them.
  - thomasfoster96 11y ago
    Saying someone is a first-degree connection implies to me that I already know them. Changing what a first degree connection is doesn't lower the barrier - it's just confusing. Trying to redefine something I already understand doesn't make much sense to me at all. Tinder has been showing users people who they are already friends with for as long as I've had the Tinder app. Tinder isn't as useful if you already know the person, but it's still got use.
jplahn 11y ago
As somebody who flirted around with Tinder for a little while (ha ha), I think this is a pretty good idea. But at the same time, I think I'd prefer to be able to select which Instagram photos I would like to remain hidden, in case they're of a more personal nature. But beyond this, I can't help but feel the entire Tinder experience is slowly deteriorating. The beautiful simplicity of what it used to be is slowly starting to be replaced, which I suppose is to be expected, but disappointing nonetheless. I can't help but feel they'll quickly monetize the amount of swipes you get, so they can quickly squeeze users down to a couple a day. As sort of a mini experiment, I downloaded some of the other apps out there that are in the same sphere and I've found Hinge to be particularly interesting (assuming you're in a large city). I'm kind of fascinated by all of these relationship apps and I'd love to see data on which are most effective (not for personal gain, mind you).
- nothrabannosir 11y ago
  They're already monetizing the amount of swipes you get: http://uk.businessinsider.com/tinder-plus-being-tested-in-europe-2015-2?r=US http://uk.businessinsider.com/tinder-plus-being-tested-in-eu... Dropped dead instantly among everyone I know.
- skizm 11y ago
  I actually think limiting swipes is a good thing. It means people can't just like everyone and then choose the matches that come in later.
  - jplahn 11y ago
    Very true. If people I know are any indication, when we'd get to a new city (for a wedding, for example), they'd furiously swipe every person that showed up. All that does it water down the entire app and defeat the purpose of the whole thing. Last thing anyone wants to hear is "Oh, I didn't mean to swipe right..". It's a question I've been interested in about how you can improve response rates and whether you should give people more swipes based on the amount of actual interaction they have with other people, which may indicate they're using it properly.
- 11y ago
phragg 11y ago
And this is where Facebook buys Tinder.
- kmfrk 11y ago
  Possibly, but it's also an opportunity to flex their social graph and entice other services to use it. I think that's more in their interest than buying Tinder outright.
- josephpmay 11y ago
  They can't. Tinder is already owned by IAC (Match.com, College Humor, etc.)
noobermin 11y ago
As long as the relationship doesn't go the other way, this doesn't upset me as an instagrammer.
pmcpinto 11y ago
This is a really interesting integration.
kmfrk 11y ago
Maybe they should include LinkedIn integration to avoid awkward encounters.
jkrejci 11y ago
This is way better than Facebook integration, cause let's be real, who really uploads pics there regularly anymore? Ha.
- Touche 11y ago
  The entire world.
  - bramgg 11y ago
    * Over the age of 30.
tinderella 11y ago
This is sort of interesting, and I think that this is a good time to comment on a problem I've been having with apps, tinder included. Updates break perfectly good apps. Due to permissions changes, I haven't updated to Tinder's older update which introduced swipe-undoing and travel. Why? Because besides the fact that I use a version of the app which doesn't seem to adhere to swipe limits, I have no interest in granting tinder more permissions. Also, the plus-feature of visiting different locales can be achieved by using a GPS mock (which I suspect you can't do in the newer versions). I've seen it too often that apps on phones get worse with each update due to trying to bandage up haemorrhaging losses. While this is a good addition to tinder I think, it's not compelling enough to get me to update.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
downandout 11y ago
I think this is bad. Tinder was built on anonymity, but many people have identifying information (knowingly or unknowingly) in their Instagram profiles. The two services were built for entirely different purposes. By allowing people access to the Instagram profile of a Tinder user, there could be some bad consequences. I have personally written an app that can take an Instagram feed and group pics by the physical address from which they were taken, if they have GPS enabled for Instagram [1] (I purposely limited it to the first 20 pics in this instance, but that limit is arbitrary). So Tinder users can now unwittingly go from basically anonymous to giving out their home address to people looking to sleep with them. Not awesome. [1] http://guiyui.com/username_geo.php http://guiyui.com/username_geo.php
- nanidin 11y ago
  Linking Instagram is not required, and most people I've seen while using Tinder have their Instagram handle in their profile text. This is just Tinder enabling their users to share what they're already sharing in a more convenient way.
- manlio 11y ago
  The awesome thing about Tinder is: a ton of hot girls use it; not just girls: hot girls. This sounds shallow, but it's not. They somehow managed to make them believe there is nothing wrong with looking for a hook up online (and that's true) but only if you look for it through the right channel. So at the end of the day no hot girls care about anonymity, they care about not being judged for their choices, and for the better or wrong we still need a hip app to make it happen. Which in turn is quite ironic: the philosophy was around since the 60s, but the implementation is unmistakably a product of contemporary capitalism.
untog 11y ago
Well, there goes Glimpse: http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/glimpse-app-instagram/ http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/glimpse-app-instagram/
lenova 11y ago
I think this update actually makes sense. A great deal of Tinder users list their Instagram username in their Tinder profiles (Usually as "IG: <username>"... it took me forever to realize what IG stood for). I think this is a case of Tinder observing how their users behave, and giving them functionality that they'll actually want.
- grrowl 11y ago
  I agree, it's a feature which their core demo will take to like a duck to water, while those who don't "get it" will fail to figure out. Tinder Plus, on the other hand, doesn't help anyone.
bjones6 11y ago
The app doesn't work on android.. SGSIII, 4.2.1 I believe. Looks to be a problem with Facebook permissions AND image cropping, both on Tinder's side..

47 points by simas 11y ago

I'm not sure Tinder got the nth-degree thing quite right - first degree is someone I know, not someone who I have a mutual connection with.

screwedup 11y ago
Goddamn engineers, always counting from 0...
- JamesSwift 11y ago
  I would love to hear this end up being a feature not a bug, where the programmer, in fact, began his counting from 0.
- thomasfoster96 11y ago
  I would've thought a 0th degree connection is myself.
pappyo 11y ago
I think they did. The users of Tinder don't need Tinder to tell them the friend they already have, they need it to tell them where potential matches are. So lowering the standard of degree that Linkedin uses would (I assume Tinder would argue) lower the barrier to foster communication between potential matches. You're not going to use Tinder to date your friend. But you would use it to date your friend's friend. Smart move by them.
- thomasfoster96 11y ago
  Saying someone is a first-degree connection implies to me that I already know them. Changing what a first degree connection is doesn't lower the barrier - it's just confusing. Trying to redefine something I already understand doesn't make much sense to me at all. Tinder has been showing users people who they are already friends with for as long as I've had the Tinder app. Tinder isn't as useful if you already know the person, but it's still got use.

jplahn 11y ago

As somebody who flirted around with Tinder for a little while (ha ha), I think this is a pretty good idea. But at the same time, I think I'd prefer to be able to select which Instagram photos I would like to remain hidden, in case they're of a more personal nature. But beyond this, I can't help but feel the entire Tinder experience is slowly deteriorating. The beautiful simplicity of what it used to be is slowly starting to be replaced, which I suppose is to be expected, but disappointing nonetheless. I can't help but feel they'll quickly monetize the amount of swipes you get, so they can quickly squeeze users down to a couple a day. As sort of a mini experiment, I downloaded some of the other apps out there that are in the same sphere and I've found Hinge to be particularly interesting (assuming you're in a large city). I'm kind of fascinated by all of these relationship apps and I'd love to see data on which are most effective (not for personal gain, mind you).

nothrabannosir 11y ago
They're already monetizing the amount of swipes you get: http://uk.businessinsider.com/tinder-plus-being-tested-in-europe-2015-2?r=US http://uk.businessinsider.com/tinder-plus-being-tested-in-eu... Dropped dead instantly among everyone I know.
skizm 11y ago
I actually think limiting swipes is a good thing. It means people can't just like everyone and then choose the matches that come in later.
- jplahn 11y ago
  Very true. If people I know are any indication, when we'd get to a new city (for a wedding, for example), they'd furiously swipe every person that showed up. All that does it water down the entire app and defeat the purpose of the whole thing. Last thing anyone wants to hear is "Oh, I didn't mean to swipe right..". It's a question I've been interested in about how you can improve response rates and whether you should give people more swipes based on the amount of actual interaction they have with other people, which may indicate they're using it properly.
11y ago

phragg 11y ago

And this is where Facebook buys Tinder.

kmfrk 11y ago
Possibly, but it's also an opportunity to flex their social graph and entice other services to use it. I think that's more in their interest than buying Tinder outright.
josephpmay 11y ago
They can't. Tinder is already owned by IAC (Match.com, College Humor, etc.)

noobermin 11y ago

As long as the relationship doesn't go the other way, this doesn't upset me as an instagrammer.

pmcpinto 11y ago

This is a really interesting integration.

kmfrk 11y ago

Maybe they should include LinkedIn integration to avoid awkward encounters.

jkrejci 11y ago

This is way better than Facebook integration, cause let's be real, who really uploads pics there regularly anymore? Ha.

Touche 11y ago
The entire world.
- bramgg 11y ago
  * Over the age of 30.

tinderella 11y ago

This is sort of interesting, and I think that this is a good time to comment on a problem I've been having with apps, tinder included. Updates break perfectly good apps. Due to permissions changes, I haven't updated to Tinder's older update which introduced swipe-undoing and travel. Why? Because besides the fact that I use a version of the app which doesn't seem to adhere to swipe limits, I have no interest in granting tinder more permissions. Also, the plus-feature of visiting different locales can be achieved by using a GPS mock (which I suspect you can't do in the newer versions). I've seen it too often that apps on phones get worse with each update due to trying to bandage up haemorrhaging losses. While this is a good addition to tinder I think, it's not compelling enough to get me to update.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

downandout 11y ago

I think this is bad. Tinder was built on anonymity, but many people have identifying information (knowingly or unknowingly) in their Instagram profiles. The two services were built for entirely different purposes. By allowing people access to the Instagram profile of a Tinder user, there could be some bad consequences. I have personally written an app that can take an Instagram feed and group pics by the physical address from which they were taken, if they have GPS enabled for Instagram [1] (I purposely limited it to the first 20 pics in this instance, but that limit is arbitrary). So Tinder users can now unwittingly go from basically anonymous to giving out their home address to people looking to sleep with them. Not awesome. [1] http://guiyui.com/username_geo.php http://guiyui.com/username_geo.php

nanidin 11y ago
Linking Instagram is not required, and most people I've seen while using Tinder have their Instagram handle in their profile text. This is just Tinder enabling their users to share what they're already sharing in a more convenient way.
manlio 11y ago
The awesome thing about Tinder is: a ton of hot girls use it; not just girls: hot girls. This sounds shallow, but it's not. They somehow managed to make them believe there is nothing wrong with looking for a hook up online (and that's true) but only if you look for it through the right channel. So at the end of the day no hot girls care about anonymity, they care about not being judged for their choices, and for the better or wrong we still need a hip app to make it happen. Which in turn is quite ironic: the philosophy was around since the 60s, but the implementation is unmistakably a product of contemporary capitalism.

untog 11y ago

Well, there goes Glimpse: http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/glimpse-app-instagram/ http://mashable.com/2014/02/11/glimpse-app-instagram/

lenova 11y ago

I think this update actually makes sense. A great deal of Tinder users list their Instagram username in their Tinder profiles (Usually as "IG: <username>"... it took me forever to realize what IG stood for). I think this is a case of Tinder observing how their users behave, and giving them functionality that they'll actually want.

grrowl 11y ago
I agree, it's a feature which their core demo will take to like a duck to water, while those who don't "get it" will fail to figure out. Tinder Plus, on the other hand, doesn't help anyone.

bjones6 11y ago

The app doesn't work on android.. SGSIII, 4.2.1 I believe. Looks to be a problem with Facebook permissions AND image cropping, both on Tinder's side..