Malaysian Women Talk About Dating Apps

Online dating is easy to use, but the experience is… another story completely. Websites like OkCupid tailors your matches according to its members' interests and preferences. Locally, there are websites like Lunch Actually, where pairs are matched up in what is claimed to be a safe environment and potential couples meet up over lunch to talk.

And then, there are dating apps, which are popular and have been sensationalised. The main one everyone's using is Tinder, with an estimated 1 billion users worldwide, but there's a competitor around the corner: Paktor, a South East Asian brand with 7 million users and 14 million matches a month.

Curious about Malaysian women's experience using dating apps, Rojak Daily talks to three women in their late 20s about being in the online dating game.

Some douchebags actually pretend they're single

Aina (not her real name), who is in her late 20s, has been using Tinder on and off for three years.

Why she goes on Tinder: To make friends and network.

Why she swipes right: When the pictures of the men are presentable and neat.

Why she swipes left: When the profile pictures of the men are cartoon images, politics-related or crude ones with their private parts.

Equally important is the person's information, because some might be looking for girlfriends, some just friends. "I've chatted with someone's husband before without knowing he was taken," she tells us. "I even asked him about it, and he told me, 'That's not important'." She did a little investigation on her own using Facebook and discovered that he really was married. Talk about Level 100 shady.

The dating pool in Malaysia is too small

Diana (not her real name) used Tinder for a year. Preferring to use the app when she's overseas, she tells us that there's still some stigma behind online dating in Malaysia. For instance, if you were in a business meeting and one person recognised you from Tinder, things could get awwwwkward.

"There's a small pool of people in Malaysia, so there has to be that one person you know from childhood or old school on Tinder," she says. Diana used to go on Tinder just to scope out the kind of men who use it. "There seems to be more quality single women than men."

Why she went on Tinder: To check out men.

Why she swipes right: When the person is good looking (according to her tastes), if he has a funny/witty bio.

Why she swipes left: If she's not physically attracted to them, selfies.

Some people use Tinder as a quick way to get a wife

Maria (not her real name) was on Tinder for a few months last year before quitting. Her reason was that she felt like she had to commit to the app once she got to know someone, and she wasn't able to do that.

Why she went on Tinder: For fun.

Why she swipes right: When a person's biography is attractive.

Why she swipes left: Dodgy photos with filters to the point that you can't even see their face.

She's not much of a fan of the app, finding it boring. "I feel like it didn't serve any purpose, so I stopped." Maria admits that if a person isn't ready to get to know someone new or date them, the app may not be for them.

Even so, during her short stint with Tinder, she encountered a man who talked about marrying her only two/three weeks of talking to each other. "We haven't even talked outside Tinder! He asked for my number but I never gave it away."

It's not THAT bad, right…?

There's nothing wrong with continuing to try out dating apps, though. It can be fun to talk to new people, even if they may not share the same interests as you do (that makes it more interesting, TBH).

And if you're lucky enough to go on a date with someone on Tinder, here's a handy infographic that could be useful for both men and women: