Tinder goes on an epic Twitter rant over Vanity Fair story
Company behind popular dating app now admits it 'overreacted'
An article in the September issue of Vanity Fair — "Tinder and the Dawn of the 'Dating Apocalypse,'" by Nancy Jo Sales — takes a look at modern "hookup" culture and the impact dating apps like Tinder are having on the lives of 20-somethings.
It begins with a scene at a bar in Manhattan’s financial district, where young Wall Street executives are "peering into their screens and swiping on the faces of strangers they may have sex with later that evening."
Tinder and the dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse” http://t.co/0AbRU2MKrn
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) August 12, 2015
An investment banker identified as "Dan" compares the ritual to using the popular online food-delivery Seamless, except "you’re ordering a person."
"Tinder sucks," the group tells Sales, but "they don’t stop swiping."
Vanity Fair published the piece online Tuesday night. And Tinder, you might say, didn't simply swipe left. The Los Angeles-based company exploded in an epic Twitter rant, arguing its app offers more than just hookups.
Tinder creates experiences. We create connections that otherwise never would have been made. 8 billion of them to date, in fact.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Tinder users are on Tinder to meet people for all kinds of reasons. Sure, some of them — men and women — want to hook up.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Just like in real life. And in the many years that existed before Tinder.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
But we know from our own survey data that it’s actually a minority of Tinder users.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Our data tells us that the vast majority of Tinder users are looking for meaningful connections.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
And our data also tells us that Tinder actually creates those meaningful connections.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
We have tons and tons of emails from people that have all kinds of amazing experiences on Tinder.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
The Tinder Generation is real. Our users are creating it. But it’s not at all what you portray it to be.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
It’s about meeting new people for all kinds of reasons. Travel, dating, relationships, friends and a shit ton of marriages.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Talk to the female journalist in Pakistan who wrote just yesterday about using Tinder to find a relationship where being gay is illegal.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Talk to our many users in China and North Korea who find a way to meet people on Tinder even though Facebook is banned.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Talk to the many Tinder couples — gay and straight — that have gotten married after meeting on Tinder.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Or talk to people that have made some of their best friends on Tinder.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
The ability to meet people outside of your closed circle in this world is an immensely powerful thing.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
So we are going to keep focusing on bringing people together. That’s why we’re here. That is why all of us at Tinder work so hard.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
You could have talked about how users build a Tinder profile that expresses who they are.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Or how millions of Tinder users have connected their Instagram accounts, so potential matches can learn more about them.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Instead, your article took an incredibly biased view, which is disappointing.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
If you want to try to tear us down with one-sided journalism, well, that’s your prerogative.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
But it’s not going to dissuade us from building something that is changing the world. #GenerationTinder
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Sales, author of "The Bling Ring," responded in kind:
My article isn't even about @Tinder lol
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) August 12, 2015
@Tinder not clear: are you suggesting journalists need your okay to write about you?
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) August 12, 2015
In a statement to Wired magazine on Wednesday, Tinder admitted that it "overreacted":
We have a passionate team that truly believes in Tinder. While reading the recent Vanity Fair article about today’s dating culture, we were saddened to see that the article didn’t touch upon the positive experiences that the majority of our users encounter daily. Our intention was to highlight the many statistics and amazing stories that are sometimes left unpublished, and, in doing so, we overreacted.
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