[electronic beeping, buzzing]
[indistinct chatter]
[narrator] February the 10th, 2021,
31-year-old Whitney Wolfe Herd is ringing the NASDAQ bell,
taking her company public.
In an instant, its value skyrockets to 14 billion US dollars.
Her highly successful company?
Bumble, a female-friendly dating app.
I downloaded Bumble on a random whim.
I was like, "Okay, okay, we on to something."
I mean, have you seen him? I was so excited,
and I could not wait to talk to him.
[Karey] We are engaged, soon to be married.
Your girl did get the ring!
[narrator] Bumble is just the latest in a deluge of dating apps
that have taken the world of courtship by storm.
Finding love may be one of the most fundamental things in life,
but the business of helping people meet "the one"
is also very much that, a business.
By 2020, the top six dating apps in the world
are collectively worth more than $80 billion.
In America,
almost half of 18-to-29-year-olds have used a dating app.
Why? Because it works.
Almost 40% of online daters have found a long-term relationship.
But the path to true love can be bumpy.
One-third of female daters report
being called an offensive name on a dating site or app.
[alarm blares]
And over half of all users admit they've lied about themselves.
For better or worse,
dating apps have dramatically widened the dating pool,
helping us find love outside our usual social circles.
Online connections right now
are the number one way in which we're meeting spouses.
[narrator] Now you can look for love anytime, anywhere, with anybody.
But when it comes to dating,
are we now so focused on playing the game that we're missing out on true love?
[8-bit video game sound effects beeping]
[8-bit music plays]
Since the invention of computers, people have been using them
to try and find that someone special.
[foghorn blares]
In 1965,
computers are huge mainframes that fill entire rooms,
tasked with solving the most complex problems.
And what's more complex than finding true love?
Enter New York City-based Project TACT.
TACT stands for Technical Automated Compatibility Testing,
and it's a computerized dating service for young people.
[narrator] TACT's IBM 1400 series computer is programmed to pair up clients
with similar backgrounds and values,
while identifying what they're looking for in a partner.
[phone whooshes, rattles]
[clink]
TACT'S clients pay $5 and answer more than 100 multiple-choice questions.
Men are asked to rank drawings of women's hairstyles.
Women are offered sketches showing where they prefer to find their partner,
in a logging camp,
in an art studio,
or in a garage.
The answers are transferred onto a punch card
and then fed into the machine,
which spits out the clients' matches.
Blue cards showing suitable men, pink cards showing women.
[bells peal]
But the technology doesn't always get it right.
We've had some funny kinds of things happening with our matching system.
We've matched an older brother with his younger sister.
Uh, and that didn't work out too well.
[narrator] By the late 1980s,
computers have shrunk to a desktop, and people are using them at home,
along with a new invention that can link them to strangers, the modem.
[dial-up tone screeching]
And naturally,
when early users begin to meet in online discussion forums,
such as The WELL, the first cyber romances blossom.
My husband started this on The WELL,
and in fact, on The WELL was where I met him.
[softly] Yeah. Yeah.
I think we met electronically
about six months before we ever met in person.
[narrator] Still, for most people, using a computer to meet someone
feels like science fiction.
By 1995,
the World Wide Web as we know it
is still just taking shape.
But tech entrepreneur Gary Kremen is quick to see the business potential
of moving newspaper classified ads online.
He registers the domain names jobs.com,
autos.com,
and, frustrated by his own inability to meet a partner,
match.com.
Kremen launches his new dating site that April.
Singles pay just under $10 a month
to build a profile
and search its database for suitable matches.
At the time, only 14% of Americans have Internet access.
But in its first year,
Match attracts 60,000 users.
You can look through a menu of just hundreds of people,
and I thought, "Well, there's not anybody there for me,
but I'm just gonna look for fun."
And I found his picture, and I thought, "Ooh!"
And then I read his profile, and I thought, "Wow."
"He sounds perfect for me."
[narrator] All that searching takes a lot of effort,
not to mention time spent filling out lengthy compatibility questionnaires.
But Match's success inspires copycats aimed at specific user groups,
like Jdate for Jewish singles and Gaydar for men seeking other men.
Still, by 1998,
only 5% of heterosexual couples report having met online.
The numbers for same-sex couples are a bit higher
but still hover at just 14%.
For most people, online dating isn't very cool.
I'm young, so I wouldn't consider doing that.
And also, I don't wanna meet, like, creepy people. [chuckles]
But… I don't know, I don't trust meeting people online.
[narrator] But as the Internet expands and connection speeds improve,
more dating sites pop up,
some catering to very specific preferences,
like one for facial-hair lovers, stachepassions.com…
♪ Mustache, mustache, candlelight ♪
[narrator] …horror movie fans…
On the screen behind me, you can see a new member of Zombie Passions,
who enjoys long, slow walks in the mall
and brains.
[narrator] …or those "seeking arrangements"
for sugar daddies in search of a sugar baby.
It's all about just having that companionship
and someone to be with.
And that's how I look at it.
So, you know, I had seen Jennifer on the site before, and it's all about--
Chloe!
-You'd seen Chloe on the site before. -Right. Yes.
-Chloe. -[laughs]
[narrator] By 2006,
11 years after its launch,
match.com has over 1.2 million paid subscribers.
And despite catering to a much smaller demographic,
the website Gaydar has 3.5 million male users.
The Internet isn't just for geeks anymore.
71% of Americans are now online,
and 69% of Brits, leading to some transatlantic love connections.
I definitely never thought I'd meet anyone over the Internet.
In fact, I had some friends that have met people over the Internet,
and I just wrote 'em off as nerds.
In the future, I guess, hopefully, we'll be together still.
Oh, yeah. I definitely plan on it.
She might ditch me if she can get any American guy she wants.
[narrator] Online dating services allow international romances to bloom,
but that's part of the problem, location.
The person behind that cute profile
might actually live hundreds of miles away.
But a new technological advance
is about to help those looking for love more locally.
In 2008,
Apple launches its iPhone 3G with GPS capability.
Now, our phone knows where we are
and where everyone else is.
Tech entrepreneur Joel Simkhai immediately gets how this could change
the dating game for gay men in particular.
[Joel] It's a very big problem in a gay man's life.
We don't always know who else is gay,
so, uh, you know, the smartphone is a perfect piece of technology,
location-based, uh, services was a… was a perfect match.
[narrator] He calls it Grindr.
Unlike older dating websites,
Grindr doesn't focus on compatibility.
It's more about proximity.
Users see a grid of everyone nearby who's recently logged in,
listed by how far away they are.
You decide who to contact.
Someone in the same city,
on a nearby street,
or maybe even that guy across the bar.
If you see someone you like,
you can instantly find out if they're interested.
What happens next is up to you.
[car horn beeps]
Generally, the advances are of a sexual nature,
which… which doesn't mean that all gay men are just, you know…
just superficial beings looking for sex.
It's just specifically what Grindr is, is for… is for hooking up.
[narrator] Despite, or perhaps because of, Grindr's hookup reputation,
it's a huge hit.
One year after its launch,
it's being downloaded more than 2,000 times a day.
Still, location-based dating apps aren't catching fire
among heterosexual couples,
until a new player completely reboots the game.
In 2012,
Tinder takes Grindr's hit formula of proximity plus instant connection
and adds a game-changing twist,
the swipe.
Swipe right if you like the look of someone.
Swipe left if you don't.
If they swipe right on you too, the match is made.
Tinder changes everything.
The swipe is rapid and instinctive,
making online dating feel like a game.
It's instantly addictive.
And that's no accident.
[celebratory 8-bit tune plays]
Company cofounder Jonathan Badeen
admits he was inspired by the work of behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner,
who performed a series of experiments in the 1940s and '50s.
Skinner grouped rats into boxes.
In one box, if the rats pressed a lever,
they'd get a consistent treat every time.
But in another box,
treats of different sizes were delivered randomly,
and sometimes, not at all.
These rats began to press the lever compulsively,
far more often and for much longer than the ones consistently rewarded.
This unpredictable outcome
is the same reason slot machines are so addictive…
and why people keep swiping right on Tinder,
hoping for a match.
Thanks to its addictive interface,
just one year after its launch,
Tinder is getting 350 million worldwide swipes per day.
That's 4,000 a second.
Though many see it as less of an app for finding Mr. Right
and more as one for finding Mr. Right Now.
-What do you associate Tinder with? -People that want to meet to hook up.
-Just sex. Let's be honest. -Hookups.
-[all chuckle] -It's nothing else.
On Tinder, the pool is just crazy.
You get the whole world. You know what I'm sayin'?
It's pretty much at your beck and call. You swipe right for what you like,
swipe left for what you don't. I mean, what's not to love about it? [chuckles]
[narrator] Imitation apps quickly follow,
each with their own twist on how to play the game of love.
Hinge targets only people seeking long-term relationships,
while Happn narrows the user's search radius
to people they've literally wandered past on the street.
These gamified mobile dating apps
prove a hit with an age group who weren't that into it before.
Use triples among the under 25s.
I think ten years ago, it's fair to say
that dating websites were considered a bit sad
and a bit pathetic, and you only went on there
if you couldn't find a boyfriend or whatever.
But now, like, all my straight friends, 90% of them, are on Tinder or whatever.
[narrator] By 2014, dating apps are taking off across the globe.
In German-speaking countries, the number one dating app is LOVOO.
[in German]
In tiny Iceland,
with a population of just around 360,000,
Íslendinga-App lets you know
if you're distantly related to someone you're interested in.
[man] So now it says, "Green light. Go for it."
[narrator] The second most downloaded dating app in the world
is the South American Badoo,
with 400 million users.
That's 20% more than the entire population of the USA.
Now it seems dating apps are for everyone…
[reporters shouting]
…even the rich and famous.
There's a celebrity dating app.
-There is. It's called Raya. -Raya.
There's a couple celebrities here and there.
I'm on it just, like, to find Ben Affleck.
I'm just swiping for Benny Boy.
[narrator] By 2017,
there are over 178 million dating-app users worldwide.
With so many people swiping, how can you stand out from the crowd?
[defeated 8-bit tune plays]
Turns out, there's quite a lot you can do to improve your odds.
That all-important profile picture is key.
According to research conducted by the app Hinge,
women should smile with their teeth and avoid looking straight at the camera,
while men should look straight ahead,
smiling with a closed mouth.
The best footwear for winning right swipes?
Sneakers.
They don't recommend posing on the beach.
And take off those sunglasses.
But the ultimate profile-picture no-no,
a bathroom-mirror selfie.
-[camera shutter clicks] -Post that, and it's game over.
[defeated 8-bit tune plays]
Your dating profile might be more important than you realize.
Some dating apps track how many likes a user gets
and presents them profiles that match them in popularity.
So the more likes you get, the better your chances become
of getting matched with another hot profile.
While most apps keep the special source of their algorithm secret,
Tinder says that the best way to improve your chances is simple.
Keep swiping.
Of course, the more people swipe, the better for Tinder's bottom line.
Analysts have suggested that the app earns almost a third of its revenue
by selling packs of boosts, as well as super likes
that help daters get noticed.
And in 2017,
Tinder rakes in a massive $403 million.
With swiping,
these apps may not have discovered the secret to finding love,
but they have found the perfect way to keep everyone playing the game.
Studies show that dating-app users spend twice as much time swiping
as they do messaging.
In fact, actual human-to-human contact has gone down.
One study shows that the younger generation is having less sex
than people their age were ten years ago, before dating apps were invented.
One reason?
The overwhelming selection of potential mates on offer.
Over a third of dating-app users in the United States
admit to messaging more than six matches simultaneously.
My single friends, whenever we go anywhere,
they're like, "It's the guy from Tinder."
Then another will go, "I went on a date with him last week."
Yeah! It's terrible.
[narrator] And with so many potential partners out there,
it's easy to forget that there are real people
behind those profiles,
resulting in a serious deterioration of dating etiquette.
Four out of five users on one dating app
admit they could not remember the first name of their last right swipe.
And people's profiles aren't always truthful.
Studies show that over 40% of users on Tinder
are already in a relationship.
Meeting in real life doesn't guarantee good manners either.
22% of male users have used a swiping app
while on a date.
And one survey found a fifth of Tinder users have been ignored
after sleeping with a match.
All this bad behavior is having a huge impact on daters' mental health.
Tinder users report having lower levels of satisfaction
with their faces and bodies
and lower levels of self-worth than non-Tinder users.
In a 2017 survey,
one in six singles admits feeling addicted to dating apps,
and another study finds 77% of users feel regret
when logging into Grindr.
There's also another reported downside.
It can be dangerous.
More than half of women in a 2020 survey
say they don't think dating sites are a safe way to meet someone.
And 46% of female users have received
an unwanted sexually explicit image or message.
19% of younger female users
say someone on a dating site or app has threatened to physically harm them.
And 88.8% of respondents to a 2021 study done in Florida
reported at least one incident of sexual violence
after using a dating app.
The result?
Growing pressure on dating apps
to create safer environments for their users.
At the start of 2020,
Tinder introduces safety features,
including a panic button which alerts law enforcement
if anyone feels unsafe while meeting a stranger,
and they now ask users to "think twice"
before they send potentially harmful messages.
On Bumble,
now the second most popular dating app in the US,
only women can make the first contact in heterosexual matches.
And if there's no response to a match within 24 hours,
the connection expires,
hopefully eliminating unwanted messages.
In March of 2020, as a pandemic unfolds around the world,
online dating proves a lifeline for many singles.
During lockdown,
Tinder sees three billion swipes in a single day.
Hinge has a 63% uptick in the number of downloads,
while over on Bumble,
video calls increase by 70%,
all during a time when people quite literally can't hook up
even if they want to.
People have seen the true benefit of online dating.
It's unlikely to ever revert back to how it was.
[narrator] Dating apps may have turned love into a game,
still, there are lots of winners.
The first moment I saw you,
I swiped right.
[laughter]
[narrator] In 1949, the most common way Americans met their partners
was through family and friends.
Now, almost 40% of heterosexual couples meet their partners online,
and among same-sex couples, it's a massive 65%.
There may still be some risk involved,
and not everyone is looking for Mr. and Mrs. Right,
but perhaps you can meet "the one" on a dating app.
Just make sure that once you've found that someone special,
you put down your phone.
[downtempo electronic music plays]