Mumbai: Finding a perfect match is the hardest part of building a good relationship and this is exactly what intelligent virtual dating apps are helping young Indians attain.
Nakul Kapur, a new-age entrepreneur across mobile products, explained that the virtual landscape has significantly helped young working professionals, who don’t have the required time or energy to connect at social gatherings.
Nakul Kapur
Keeping this in mind, individuals today find it easier to connect through virtual spaces such as Facebook, Instagram, and of course, a slew of dating apps. “As these platforms become popular, the trend is moving from offline to the online dating space,” said Kapur.
On being asked why the good-old social conversations are losing prominence, he said, that 70 per cent of a working professional’s time during a week is occupied by hectic work schedules and they only get to meet colleagues at meetings which makes it monotonous and boring.
He said, “On most occasions, they don’t get to meet the desired people but dating apps help them connect with anyone round the clock at the click of a button.”
Mumbai-based Rukmini Chopra, 23, said she started using dating app Tinder after being influenced by a friend. Initially she was cynical about using the app but her friend told her that it was a really fun platform to find matches so she gave it a shot.
“My friend actually pushed me into making a profile on Tinder as she was the one who created my profile. So that’s how I started using Tinder,” she said.
However, what started off as a ‘casual swiping game’ finally paid off as she found her perfect match using the app. Regarding the accuracy of the app, she said that the app is not very accurate but it really helped her find her perfect match pretty quickly.
Regarding the convenience of using dating apps such as Tinder, Chopra said, “It is becoming more convenient for youngsters to find matches but it is very important to meet a person physically.”
“Especially in Metropolitans like Mumbai where traveling itself is a curse, I think it is definitely easier for people to connect over these dating platforms,” she added.
Several of Rukmini’s friends have also found matches on Tinder and she feels that the use of Tinder and several virtual app alike will gain immense popularity in years to come.
While virtual dating apps has helped youngsters find perfect dates, she said that users should also be careful while making a choice as there a lot of ‘weird’ people and posers on Tinder.
Another Mumbai-based working professional Shaimak Unwalla, said, “Virtual dating apps like Tinder are perfect for people who are usually busy with work, or aren’t comfortable with going to bars and trying to socialise over there.”
Although he has not yet dated anyone on Tinder yet, he expects that Tinder and dating apps alike will slowly become prominent among the youth.
“Considering that there is an app for everything now, dating apps were definitely on the cards and I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a app for hook-ups at a later stage,” said Unwalla.
Intelligent match-making apps
Kapur also pointed out that now there is a plethora of intelligent match-making apps, which are designed in such a way that makes match-making far easier.
From US-based Tinder to native apps such as TrulyMadly, all of these new-age dating apps gather points of interest, hobbies, profession, age, and numerous other facets from a user’s virtual accounts and finds similar matches based on that information.
“These apps give you much better profiling in terms of meeting your ideal match. These apps essentially look at your behaviour, lifestyle, likes or dislikes, making them ideal to find matches,” Kapur added.
Apps such as Tinder have not only helped Indians ‘break the initial ice’ by allowing individuals to connect others, but has also helped paved the way for numerous other Indian start-ups to base their foundation on connecting people.
Currently, there are several Indian match making startups such as Aisle, TrulyMadly, Banihal and many more, ranging from serious dating apps to casual ones.
Secure match-making platforms such as Banihal are much safer than most existing matrimonial websites. This is due to the usage of advanced search engine mechanisms used by virtual platforms today.
The CEO of Banihal, Ishdeep Sawhney, said, "The human brain makes analogies and does pattern recognition. We can do that at a much larger scale with data analyzed by a computer."
"The domain of finding a match is similar and artificial intelligence based systems will find better matches than any individual person. This will lead to much more happier couples," he concluded.
