Use TikTok for Dating? | How the Viral App Is Changing the Game

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Unless you’ve lived under a rock for the past few years, you’ll know what a powerful sway TikTok has had on society since the lockdown of 2020. And while a few of the things we used to entertain ourselves during the lockdown are long gone, TikTok still reigns supreme, and people are still taking advice and following trends from this algorithm-heavy video app. 

Thankfully, TikTok seems to know what it’s doing with its marketing, brilliantly designed app layout and algorithm. More often than not, people look to TikTok to guide them through any problems now instead of any other news platform. 

Plus, it’s fun to scroll through a hundred videos that seem as though they’ve been specifically made or brought to your app and learn from them. 

One of the sections that TikTok is thriving in specifically is the dating trends that creators or other sources pump out every week. 

While we might caution some users against throwing caution to the wind and allowing TikTok to control their dating life, it is fun to participate in a few of the trends that everyone’s doing when it comes to their relationships and see if you and your partner are meant to be based on your moon signs or find out when you’re going to get married when a filter provides that information for you. 

But there has to be a reason why so many people are spending so much time applying TikTok dating trends to their life and letting these seemingly random trends dictate how they approach their romantic lives. 

We think it’s because there’s a sense of community that comes from not only creating a TikTok video but also participating in a trend that thousands of other people have already done. 

Although some of the answers are obvious, if you’re curious about how TikTok has changed the dating game, keep reading!


The Code That TikTok Cracked

While there are many reasons why TikTok is such an exciting app and why it continues to keep people’s interest and retain a large audience, the main reason is that it stays relevant while also being interactive. 

This is not something that any other dating app has ever been able to master fully, and it’s one of the many things that other apps, specifically dating apps, can learn from TikTok. 

The reason why TikTok trends blew up at the beginning of its success and continue to blow up now is that TikTok has mastered the art of allowing its users to create something, having a brilliant platform for everyone to showcase their creations, and then creating opportunities for anywho who’s interested in recreating it then. 

tiktok code

When it comes to our relationships, we want to be able to talk about them and show them off. That’s why TikTok’s dating trends do so well on the platform. 

But has TikTok’s presence in the dating community and how the app approaches online dating changed the way that people in real life approach dating? 

Here are a few ways that TikTok has forever changed the dating game and some of the ways that dating apps and people looking to find love online can learn from the viral app. 


tiktok moves quickly

TikTok Moves Quickly

It’s no secret that when you’re scrolling on TikTok, you only have a few seconds to see what you want to see before the video is over. 

While someone who isn’t as familiar with how this app functions might get overwhelmed or confused by it at first, it’s a brilliant way to keep people interested when they’re online. 

Not only is there always something new to see, but users are also tempted to watch the next video and keep going because they know that when they turn off their phones and click out of their apps, TikTok will automatically refresh. Their feed will be new the next time they log on. 

While this constant stream of new and exciting content might be a bit damaging for our brains to have to process when we’re online constantly, there’s no arguing with the fact that it works. 

TikTok is addictive because it’s such a fast-moving platform, and there is always something new or something interesting that users want to see when they’re online. 

The way that TikTok is set up and functions is not too different from the way that a number of the most popular dating apps function.

But instead of getting met with a video feed when you log into your dating app, you’re met with thousands of potential new matches, which are very personalized to you and all who might be able to benefit you as well. 

While there are many improvements dating apps can make to help feed the need for fast-paced and exciting content, some dating apps are on the right track. Plus, it helps that you’re swiping and scrolling on people who might matter to you instead of random videos that make you feel happy. 


TikTok Appeals to Its Audience and Learns from Them

If you’ve ever heard an expert talk about TikTok, they always say that the algorithm cannot be beaten when it comes to this little app. And we agree.  

The TikTok algorithm is insane. The app somehow monitors every single time someone scrolls past a video before it’s over; it marks what they’re searching for online, who they’re following, the content they’re most interested in, and when they’re no longer interested in what they were before. 

Thankfully, the algorithm is also something dating apps know a lot about, and most of them function off of an algorithm-based program

Even though most dating apps’ algorithms are not as powerful as TikTok’s, many dating apps know what people are looking for online, and they take their cues from their users. 

tiktok appeals to audience

Not to mention, many dating apps also provide a section for the users to specify what they’re looking for in a relationship and what kind of a relationship they want to find as a result of their time on the apps. 

Although dating apps could learn a lot more about the way that TikTok’s algorithm works, and if they are somehow able to crack the code soon, the matches that they provide for their users might be more successful. People might be more excited to get online, dating apps are taking considerable steps to appeal to their audience’s wants and constantly learn from their audience.


tiktok trends

A lot of dating apps need to better understand what’s popular and what’s keeping people’s interest when they’re online. 

Keeping up with the trends can be a lot more difficult than anyone realizes. Many people have started to analyze TikTok trends as they come and go, and they’ve found that there’s usually one breakout trend that happens a month, but there are also two to four smaller trends that tend to get sprinkled in throughout. 

As society and trends evolve, so does TikTok. 

Unfortunately, keeping up with the latest trends on TikTok is so easy because the platform is for creators who are constantly pumping out content to stay relevant. Their users’ success is TikTok’s success. 

This isn’t the case when it comes to dating apps. While everyone on these apps is trying to stay relevant, and they’re trying to craft the perfect online dating profile that will attract people to them and make people want to swipe right while also standing out from the crowd, that’s about as trendy as dating apps can get. 

One of the ways that dating apps can improve exponentially is to take a page out of TikTok’s book and try to focus on updating and upgrading their systems. Allow people more room to express themselves and stand out. 

The Snack dating app is extremely similar to TikTok in that it allows or requires all of its users to create videos, making its users’ experience enjoyable and captivating when they’re scrolling through their dating app. 

One way dating apps need to keep up with the trends is to constantly be able to evolve and change how they’re structured. That will allow users to get a fresh new experience when they’re online. 


TikTok Provides Interactive Content

One of the reasons why TikTok blew up so much was because the app was designed to be interacted with. 

Users could see their favorite new trends or create videos based on their favorite artist’s new music and interact with it all online.

The idea of boosting interaction on your social media or dating app might sound easier than it is, but it all comes down to the content users feel comfortable putting out into the world. 

While there are a few ways that users on dating apps can create interactions online. When you think about it, the main reason that anyone’s profile is on a dating app is so that they can get interacted with and hopefully find a partner as a result of their time online. 

tiktok creative

But there are multiple ways that users have taken the chances of dating app interactions into their own hands when they’re online and created calls to action, where they tell people to swipe right and match with them.

Having the ability and the platform to create content on your dating app that is easy to interact with and enjoyable to consume is a tall order.  Still, it might boost users and the overall feel of the community. 


tiktok and dating apps

A Final Word about TikTok and Dating Apps

If you’re on a dating app and you’re not feeling it, that’s okay. It happens to everyone. 

Unfortunately, the concept of dating apps was created a while ago, and very few dating apps have sought to keep upgrading and updating their platforms. 

That being said, there are a lot of ways that TikTok and the way that the app was designed and set up are very similar to the way that most dating apps operate. 

Sure, most of them could stand to blow off some dust on their programming, and no one can ever go wrong by adding a few updated features, but dating apps have more in common with the technology and algorithm-forward programming that TikTok leads with.

In the next few years, dating apps will look a lot like TikTok does. 

Thankfully, even though dating apps still need to be on the same level as TikTok, they’re not too far off. Dating apps invented the game, TikTok’s just a newer player. 

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