I have to say that, as a man, 0 investment in the interaction from the start is the only real way to play the game. The chances of any given person getting back to me on tinder is so low that I actively try to avoid reading profiles and getting interested before swiping right. Even after a 'successful' match the chances of meeting up in real life are so slim that it just feels like a game. "I don't know this person, we'll probably never meet so I've got nothing to lose".

Social networks are important to making a dating system work. Facebook is the most successful dating app in the world by far.