Anyway so was catching up on case studies from the irrepressible Growth.Design and the one on Tinder made me think.
There’s a bit where Louis-Xavier is responding to a match and he makes an interesting point:
The fact that Keely didn’t start the conversation when we matched… is a good indicator that it’s not easy!
This gave me an idea…
How Tinder Converts (Almost) 8%
Of Singles Into Customers
In Less Than 15 Minutes
One of the most common points made by cishet women looking for guys is the prevalence of the dick pic. It did Louis-Xavier’s point about the obstacle of getting a match when there isn’t anything to go on beyond that fact reminded me about the fascinating and often anxiety-enabled (but not generated, to be clear – we have patriarchy to thank for that) weirdness of how so many cishet men understand attractiveness, sexiness etc. – the fact that reverse flashing them actually kind of impresses them, that all too many genuinely think dick pic==increased likelihood of sexual success, that for the more sexist amongst them, it’s almost de rigeur for the dating process, the list goes on.
It would be interesting to know if providing additional friction (see what I did there?) as Louis-Xavier himself suggests could be part of the UI arsenal to save the cishet girlies from unwanted dickpics and inadequate responses. Especially given the kind of data apps like Tinder have about you, I’m sure there’s ways to get inventive with it – and that could well include ways of supporting the eternal quest of the guys-who-like-send-dickpics to meet the girls-who-like-to-receive-dickpics?
by F. Okoye 
