When we think of Tinder, our mind conjures images of quick hook-ups, a disastrous but hilarious date story to tell our mates down the pub the next day, or the darker side of abuse that women encounter on the app.

Rarely do we associate the swipe-right-to-like dating app with people seeking long-term love.

But, oh, how wrong we are!

According to a survey of over 300,000 Tinder users, 80% of people on the app say they are hoping to meet a long-term partner though the app.

The information was announced by Tinder CEO Sean Rad, at the Web Summit conference in Dublin, where he also also revealed that there are over 1.5 million first dates from the app every week – and that 50% of those become second dates.

While Rad admits that the remaining 20% of users are seeking to initiate casual hook-ups via the app, (or, he laughs and says, “very brief friendships”) it is by no means the reason the majority are using it.

Rad said that:

“There’s no doubt that Tinder is increasing the number of connections in this world. We are bringing the world closer together, and at a scale that no platform has ever been able to do. In that sense it’s changing the world. It’s a beautiful thing.”

Although previously, Tinder have sought to down-play the hook-up elements of the app, following the latest statistics, Rad doesn’t seem to mind, saying:

“What you want to do with that connection is completely up to you. Sometimes there’s marriages, friendships and everything in between … There are Tinder babies. There are many Tinder babies!”

Rad also revealed that Tinder has created almost 9 billion matches, and that every day there are over 1.8 billion ‘swipes’ on the app – an action so popular the word was nominated for the Collins Dictionary Word of the Year.

Rad announced at the event that Tinder is working on new features that will help its users interact in new ways, confirming a “huge” change to the matching algorithm that could increase matches for users by over 30%.

Speaking about the change, Rad says that “you’ll be able to learn more about the person that you’re interested in, and you’ll be able to make more informed decisions when you’re swiping.”

By increasing the matches, Rad says that the company is “fundamentally changing that individual’s life.”

“You’re not going to remember the photo you saw on Snapchat two hours ago. You are going to remember the person you met on Tinder even weeks ago. That’s our focus.”