Good news: this dating app is using their data to help you suck less at finding love.

Data can only help you, right?
 By 
Cassie Murdoch
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Dating apps have a crapload of data on their users, and they know exactly what works and doesn’t. So why not use that to help us out?

That’s the premise behind IRL, a new digital magazine that’s launching today from dating app Hinge. The site will be updated daily with advice that draws on data they've collected over the years. So basically we can learn what's worked for other people, and maybe this whole thing will get a little easier and less awkward.

So, are there really enough burning questions to fuel an entire site each day? Hahahaha, of course there are.

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Justin McLeod, Hinge's founder & CEO, told Mashable, “Our Member Experience team constantly receives emails from members asking for a wide-range of dating app advice.” He said it was clear that “singles wanted a safe space to ask dating app related questions and receive reliable, data-backed advice.”

It’s up to Molly Fedick, IRL’s Editor in Chief, to give it to them.

She told us that dating apps present, “a unique set of problems (Googling potential partners, asking new partners if they've deleted their apps, etc.).” She said the mission of the site is to provide solutions to those problems, so that their users feel, “confident and in control of their dating lives."

That’s a big promise -- have you ever in your life felt that way about your dating life? -- but Fedick says it’s all part of an effort, “to bring the conversation about these ‘digital dating dilemmas’ beyond the brunch table and into the mainstream.” Topics so far include, "How Do I Avoid Men Who Are 'Experimenting,' But Still Closeted?" and "My Friend and I Matched With the Same Guy. Who 'Gets' Him?"

Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

At the moment, IRL has six different columnists addressing our many dilemmas. They include a dating coach, a sex writer and educator, and even a "Corporate Bro." They've purposefully recruited people with diverse backgrounds to speak to the broad range of people who rely on apps to find love.

Hinge isn’t the first app to dig into their user data and try to offer advice. Tinder, after all, employs an in-house sociologist to do that very thing, though they’re often cagey about releasing actual hard data. Other apps offer various novel amenities to their members, too. Heck, Grindr has a poet in residence.

Still, this is an especially ambitious and transparent effort by Hinge. McLeod told us that openness was intentional: “If we have data that will help our members find someone great and move things offline as quickly as possible, we of course want to share that information.” And, of course, Hinge stands to benefit from more successful, more engaged users too.

There's also the question of whether all the data that Hinge has on its users will also be applicable to those who are also swiping around on their competitors. Fedick says they realize that people date on many different apps, and they’re cool with that.

She thinks the content will be helpful to anyone who's looking to find the match of their dreams, saying, “Many of the issues we're tackling are universal to dating apps in general. Things like dating app conversations stalling, or being unsure of how many people your match is talking to.”

So will this be the thing that changes your dating game for good? It's certainly not going to hurt, and let's face it: any little edge you can buy yourself helps.

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Cassie Murdoch

Cassie Murdoch is Mashable's Culture Editor.. Before coming here, Cassie was Senior Culture Writer at Vocativ. She previously wrote for Jezebel and The Hairpin. Cassie spends most of her time thinking about and consuming cheese in all its glorious forms.

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