Urban dictionary defines Tinder as: “dating app. Tinder is the McDonalds for sex.” This commonly used app certainly has a hook-up reputation, but is that all it is?

On Tinder, each person chooses a few pictures and writes a short biography for everyone else to see. From there, the directions are simple: swipe right if you like the person, swipe left if you don’t. Once two people favorite each other, they are allowed to message one another. What happens from there is completely determined by the user.

Upon taking on this article, I decided to download Tinder with a strategy in mind: swipe right on absolutely everybody. I have had a few pleasant conversations, but I am unsure whether I would ever actually meet up with a Tinder guy.

Say you have been talking to someone from Tinder for a while and you want to meet up. There is always risk when meeting someone that you only know through social media and technology. Many have heard of being catfished and would hate to find out that the young, attractive person they have been talking to is actually old and kind of creepy. Or maybe the intentions of the person you have been talking do not line up with your own. In any case, it is always necessary to take precautions.

“Go places where there’re lots of people around, where the sun is out,” said Brady Stump, freshman mechanical engineering major.

Of course, not all people who have Tinder are interested in meeting up and getting to know people they match with. Stump sees Tinder as more of a place to just talk to people than anything. But for some, Tinder is just a hook-up app.

“I think it is what you make of it. Some people are only looking for hook ups, so that’s all they’re going to find,” said Mason Weiss, a freshman performing arts major.

Jenna Lowery, junior political science pre-law and sociology major, is evidence that Tinder can be more than a hook-up app. She met her current boyfriend of about a month on Tinder. Like both Stump and Weiss, she originally downloaded it just to see what it was like. Although Lowery was not searching for a boyfriend, she eventually began talking to a guy with whom she had much in common.

“With all the rumors and what people are usually looking for, I definitely think I kind of lucked out with that,” Lowery said.

After a week, my match number has reached 2,570 and I have seen both sides of the spectrum. The intentions of people on Tinder vary. Some want to talk, others to date and others to hook up. Guys have asked me to come over at 2 a.m., but I have also been able to fan-girl over movies and music. It can be great, but also dangerous. If you have one or ever intend to get one, make sure you know what you’re in for.

Collegian Entertainment Reporter Cassie Maack can be reached at entertainment@collegian.com.