Dating apps have always been highly controversial. With YouTube stories about fake accounts and MTV’s TV show Catfish people have become much more aware and careful of what they put online. That being said, dating apps such as Tinder have been highly popular among adolescents, but there have been countless articles written on “the do’s and don’t’s” of tinder profiles. I have decided to put these to the test, not only to see if Tinder is as shallow as people say, but to find out if it “works.” In order to do this, I have made two Tinder accounts; one with photos that follow what I should do, and one with photos that follow what I shouldn’t.

In the first account, I have pictures of myself alone, doing adventurous things, clear photos, and photos that show my interests. In the other, I have photos of me with no makeup, group photos, photos of myself with other guys, and a photo of me with a baby, but I have chosen to use the exact same biography to really test the photos. Along with these two accounts, I have set some guidelines.

Rules

1. I will swipe right, signaling that I like the person, on everyone.

2. I will wait for people to message me first.

3. I will use the same biography on each account: “Love life, always up for a hike and trying something new! I tend to sing most of the time. If you open with a pun, dad joke, or cheesy pickup line… :) Story anthropologist and preschool teacher, I speak fluent Spanish."

4 I will test each profile for one week.

5. I will swipe right on the same amount of people each day.

With these guidelines in mind, I set out on my Tinder journey! Below, you will find the number of matches total and an average for each day, plus an analysis of the messages, followed by a conclusion answering the essential question in dating: Do looks matter?

Comparison of the numbers

On account number one, following the “do’s” of tinder, I got a total of 593 matches in the course of one week, averaging at about 85 matches per day.

On account number two, following the “don’t’s” of tinder, I got a total of 409 matches, averaging at 58 matches per day.

Messages

With account number one, I received messages from around half of the people that I matched with each day. Because I said that I enjoyed puns, dad jokes, and cheesy pick up lines in my bio, I got a lot of these things in messages as openers, which was one of my favorite parts about this experiment. Along with this, the guys genuinely seemed to be interested in my life and who I am as a person. They would ask a lot of questions about my interests and would message me back very quickly, being extremely complimentary of my appearance. one frequently asked questions had to do with my intentions with using tinder. Because I am not a hookup person, I would tell people the truth, that I was looking for some cool people to talk to in hopes of the possibility of a real relationship. Depending on if our intentions matched after that question, guys would often ask me out for drinks or just to meet up in general, but I respectfully declined these offers, saying that I want to get to know a person before we go out. I responded to almost everyone that messaged me, with the exception of those who opened with something about hooking up right away, but I only kept conversations that were engaging, breaking the ones that went along the lines of “hi, how are you, what’s up, nothing,” etc. Some men, however, would continue to message me over and over again if I did not reply. For example, some people would ask me something inappropriate, begging for nudes or asking dirty questions, and I chose not to reply to these. A few people continued to message me, calling me rude (or much worse) for not responding because I was defeating the purpose of Tinder and it was “something I should expect with a body like mine.” I quickly unmatched with people like this. Overall, the guys I matched with on this account were engaging and quick to respond, seeming to take a genuine interest in me as a person before asking for anything.

Account number two, on the other hand, seemed to be a magnet for people asking for hookups. Most of the people who messaged me on this account would do it later at night, asking what I was up to and if I wanted to “come over and chill,” not even attempting to pretend to be interested in me in the first place. They would ask if the kids in my picture were mine, but would rarely ask or say anything complimentary about me. Very few people opened with anything other than “hey,” and if they did, it was to ask to meet up at 11:30 at night. I found myself responding to far fewer people on this account, as these people were much less fun to talk to. It seemed that less stereotypically pretty or interesting photos attracted people who wanted nothing more than one night.

Conclusion

The kind of pictures chosen for a Tinder profile directly effects the kind of people who swipe right on you. If you choose pictures of only yourself, of you feeling confident in what you are doing, of you participating in activities that you genuinely enjoy doing, and pictures that you feel represent you as a person, you will likely attract more people who are interested in finding out more about who you are, rather than only being interested in your appearance. On the other hand, if you put less thought into your photos, you are more likely to get people asking for hook ups. Overall, however, just be confident in your photos. If you are on Tinder looking for hookups, great, if you are looking for a real relationship, great. Do what makes you feel most confident in yourself.

This article should not effect your decisions, but if it helps in some way, that is fantastic! My actions were not meant to harm anyone or hurt anyone in any way, only to help people find what they are looking for. Beginning this experiment, I was terrified, but I constantly reminded myself that my purpose was to help people find love. I have always been a hopeless romantic, believing that everyone deserves and will find love. So, be confident, post the pictures that you feel comfortable with, follow what you believe will be best for you, and most importantly, be yourself. That is what will attract the best person for you.