Tinder is more than just an app to hook up, university researcher finds

A file photo shows the app Tinder.

MONTREAL — Tinder: it's the app with a reputation for easy hook-ups and the occasional successful relationship.

But lately it's being used for so much more than just casual dating, according to a researcher from Concordia University in Montreal.

Stefanie Duguay, an assistant professor of communication studies whose research paper was published in The Information Society, says some of the app's estimated 50 million worldwide users are using it for something other than dating — like advertising political campaigns or promoting local gigs.

"When people encounter a new technology, whether it’s a hammer or a computer, they use it in ways that fit their needs and lifestyle," Duguay said.

She calls this "off-label use," a pharmacology term that describes when people use a product for something other than what it was intended. Duguay explains these users are not the same as spam bots, which often dishonestly disrupted people's use of the app.

"I think sex and dating are very meaningful activities in our society," she said. "But I was also seeing this range of activity on Tinder. Platforms like this are more like an ecosystem."

As part of her research, Duguay interviewed four of these so-called "off-label" users: one was advertising an anti-smoking campaign, another focused on anti–sex trafficking, the third was marketing health products and the fourth was supporting U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders’s Democratic Party presidential nomination run in 2016.

"I found that a lot of the time, Tinder’s expected use — dating and hooking up — informed or complemented their campaigns," she said. "There would be an element of flirtatiousness or they would draw on users’ perception of Tinder as a digital context for intimate exchanges."

Nevertheless, she admits numerous users said they didn't like falling on profiles of users who weren't there to, well, hook up or date.

"That shows that off-label use can be somewhat disruptive on the platform," she explained. "Though this depends on how narrowly people see that app’s purpose."

So, the question is, would you swipe left or right on off-label users?