Have you ever been to a new place? Maybe a mat? A church? A gathering? A conference? Down town in the streets? Airport? Or just anywhere full of strange people? Have you ever been to these places and noticed this gorgeous girl and you wished you could gather courage to ask her out? Or at least get her number? Have you, as a girl, wished that the good looking tall, dark and handsome masculine gentleman seated at the other corner in the restaurant or a club/bar could come over and say hi?

Many a times we lose opportunities to interact with interesting people either because we are shy, timid, scared or just unsure. Sometimes when we see these interesting people seated next to us we wish we could pry on their Facebook, friend request them, and maybe later get to know them more; but we just can’t.

Thanks to technology there seem to be a solution to every major problem. Sean Rad,  Justin Mateen, and Jonathan Badeen (probably learning from Bang with friends App that was later renamed to Down) created Tinder to solve these “meet new people and dating” nightmares. The App’s major function is to match people according to information and photos users share in their profiles – a big chunk of that information being sourced from Facebook. To search for people near you for the match making exercise, the App relies on GPS.

This is how Tinder works

• First you have to download the App to your smartphone or tablet – that’s obvious, right? Android users can get it from Google Play by following this link.
• Once successfully downloaded, the App will ask you to sign in with your Facebook.
• Then using default settings, the App will search for people on Tinder but of the opposite sex – up to 100 kms radius – and show you their profiles and pictures. It will be up to you to dislike them (swipe them left) or like them (swipe them right). Search criteria for people e.g. age limit, maximum radius, and sex can be changed from settings.
• If you like anyone near you, they get notified. If they see your profile and they like you back, you can start communicating.

What people have used Tinder for

The founder and CEO of Tinder was on CNN a few minutes ago talking about Tinder. Being one of those who have used Tinder to find love, he says there are a number of networking activities people can use Tinder for top being dating. Other uses are making new friends, finding love (or sex partner), marriage, networking, business partnerships and many more. The main objective of Tinder is simply to link strangers up using first impressions and if two strangers in a bar or restaurant, airport or anywhere get along, the type of friendship the two will form from there is totally up to them.

So, do you think you’ll be lonely this Valentine’s? Forget calling that premium number being advertised on major TV stations or dialing the *699* whatever # – what you need is to download Tinder and search for fellow lonely hearts near you – for free. After all, since its inception 15 months ago, Tinder has been able to make over 500 million matches. Today, the App makes about 6 million matches on a daily basis and has made enabled over 100 marriages.