I redownloaded bumble after 10 months, and after less than 24 hours it says I have 500+ likes. Is that actually real??

This is not data though. The first article is about the correlation between different personality factors (the big five) and online dating. It's not about how online dating influences your ego.

The second is about online dating in general. It's a qualitative study, which means it's only based on interviews with people, not statistics. The article doesn't list any numbers, but mentions that people who use online dating uses it to gauge their desirability. They mention how one guy in an interview said that using Tinder made him feel flattered when he gets a match. That's it.

Of course people use online dating to test how desirable they are. Just as people test this week going to a club, party or social gathering. Sometimes that ends up being an ego boost, sometimes it's a let down. Using it to test means that it can go either way.

/r/Bumble Thread Parent