Category: Outlets – Vanity Fair
Tinder Announces Management Changes
VANITYFAIR – Mar 23 – Four new, experienced executives are joining Tinder: Maria Zhang, most recently of Yahoo, is becoming Tinder's VP of engineering; YouTube and Google's Derek Callow will take on the role of VP of international; James Kim of TigerText will be VP of finance; and former Starz Entertainment executive Ferrell McDonald will be the company's new CMO.
Bumble Was Trying To Match People With Underage Users
VANITYFAIR – Jan 13 – A glitch in the dating app Bumble was appearing to limit some adult users to only matching with users between the ages of 13 and 17. For several months, users have been reporting that they're stuck in an uncomfortable, illegal position. Whitney Wolfe, the app's founder said that that issue is a result of back-end confusion that has only impacted ~100 users. Wolfe and her team decided to ban all minors from using the app.
Tinder And The Dawn Of The “Dating Apocalypse”
VANITY FAIR – Aug 10 – As soon as people could go online they were using it as a way to find partners to date and have sex with. In the 90s it was Craigslist and AOL chat rooms, then Match.com and Kiss.com. Mobile dating went mainstream five years ago. ~50M people are on Tinder where they might find a sex partner as easily as they’d find a cheap flight to Florida. Dating apps are the free-market economy come to sex. The innovation of Tinder was the swipe. OkCupid soon adopted the function. Hinge, which allows for more information about a match’s circle of friends through Facebook, and Happn, which enables GPS tracking to show whether matches have recently “crossed paths,” use it too. It’s really addicting. “Short-term mating strategies” seem to work for plenty of women too; some don’t want to be in committed relationships, either, particularly those in their 20s.
Interview With Whitney Wolfe, Founder Of Bumble
VANITYFAIR – Aug 7 - Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe’s current venture is Bumble, a dating app where women have to make the first move.
Q: What inspired you to come up with Bumble?
A: I am a huge advocate for anti-bullying in our youth. Young girls are facing tremendous pressure online.
Q: Do you consider Bumble a feminist company?
A: We are 100% feminist.
Q: On Bumble, women must begin conversations. How do you think it’s changed the way things work in the online dating world?
A: By having the lady make the first move, men don't feel rejection. They are flattered. That one little shift, that one little change, makes all the difference.
Q: What about this overlaying concern of how sexualized online dating has become?
A: It’s an app. Just like a bar. You’re never going to see a sign on a bar that says “only for hookups tonight”. It’s a place to meet people, and whatever you want to do with your interactions is really up to you.
Q: There is some speculation about how hyper-attractive some of your users are. Are these models who are meant to encourage your users in some way?
A: We hear that all the time. We are not by any means trying to show a certain type of person before another type of person.
Grindr Has Over 1 Million Users Across 180 Countries
VANITY FAIR – May 27 – Grindr, the popular location based social networking and dating tool for gay men, has more than 1 million users in 180 countries. Grindr is most popular in the UK with 160,000 users, 62,000 of which are in London alone. The app even has members in Sri Lanka, Djibouti, Haiti, Iraq and Iran, where homosexuality isn't tolerated.
by Matt Kapp
The full article was originally published at Vanity Fair, but is no longer available.