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Published 20:15 25 Feb 2014 GMT
Updated 14:52 19 Dec 2014 GMT

Luckily, having just moved into a new house, I've accidentally stumbled upon a treasure trove of information as one of my flatmates is a self-confessed 'serial dater'. While I'm still an advocate of the traditional 'get drunk and see who you bump into at the bar' approach, she has firmly informed me that this is the dating equivalent of having a Nokia 3310 and all modern singles are employing technology in the hunt for Mr Right, or Mr Right Now.
Tinder, it seems, is where all the cool kids are at.
My only previous experience of online dating was a 24-hour stint in 2012, when I was forced to delete my account after waking up to a stream of angry emails from an irate suitor. My crime? I'd gone to bed without answering one of his messages. And while I know it's wrong to tar everyone with the same brush, this was more than enough for me and sent me running for the hills.
However, this online trend does not seem to be going away and my flatmate's continuous stream of stories about dates with eligible men eventually got to me. So last week, I downed a glass of wine and then downloaded Tinder to kickstart my dating odyssey.
For those of you who are unfamiliar, Tinder is basically Ikea for men. You sign up and choose pictures from your Facebook as your profile. Then the fun begins and you can flick through a catalogue of pictures based on your chosen preferences (so if you like older men or are a bit of a cougar, this is the app for you!).
You swipe left if you don't fancy them and right if you do and then Tinder will tell you if you have a match. The best thing is that nobody can message you until you've indicated that you fancy them, which eliminates the (apparently very common) problem of receiving unsolicited penis photos that some of my friends have experienced on other dating websites.
In short, Tinder is great craic. I've had plenty of matches and no angry messages so far, which I'm counting as a victory, and I've set up a date with a cute American for one of the nights this week.
I guess it's too late to back out now so I'll be back next week with a full report and promise to spill all the gory details!
Have you got any great/hilariously bad Tinder stories? Leave us a comment and tell us all about it!Explore more on these topics: