This dating app exposed its married users and now hundreds of men are deleting it from their phones
May 28, 2015, 21:07 IST
hinge.coDating profile of a married Hinge userDating site Hinge is supposed to be a safe space compared to apps like Tinder - but as it turns out, almost 4% of its male users are either married or dating someone already.Hinge's slogan is "Meet people through friends," and its users can only connect with others through their shared Facebook friends. This is supposed to make daters feel more secure and less like they're about to hook up with a complete stranger. "I've met up with someone on Hinge because you have mutual friends, so you can be 80% sure they're not a full-on wacko," user Tibby Iz told the New York Times last year.But earlier this month, Hinge's status as a relative safe space wavered as hundreds of male users fled the service when it came to light that they were using it to cheat.
Hinge uses data from Facebook to populate users' profiles - photos, college and employment info, and location are all fair game. Until now, relationship status wasnt. But that's changed. Hinge announced earlier this month that its users' relationship statuses are now visible to others on the app. This means that if someone has designated themselves as "married," "engaged," or "in a relationship" on Facebook, Hinge users will be able to see that information before deciding whether to swipe right. Since this change, 450 of Hinge's male users have quit the service, Fusion reports. It turns out 1.6% of Hinge users list themselves as married or engaged on Facebook, while 2% are listed as being in a relationship.It's unclear how many of the 450 departures were directly tied to relationship statuses, but this week's numbers were 40% higher than the usual male attrition rate, Hinge's Vice President of marketing, Karen Fein, noted in a company statement. The company has not released any data regarding female users leaving the app.Hinge is not alone in this problem. Thirty percent of Tinder users are married, according to a GlobalWebIndex report.
Hinge uses data from Facebook to populate users' profiles - photos, college and employment info, and location are all fair game. Until now, relationship status wasnt. But that's changed. Hinge announced earlier this month that its users' relationship statuses are now visible to others on the app. This means that if someone has designated themselves as "married," "engaged," or "in a relationship" on Facebook, Hinge users will be able to see that information before deciding whether to swipe right. Since this change, 450 of Hinge's male users have quit the service, Fusion reports. It turns out 1.6% of Hinge users list themselves as married or engaged on Facebook, while 2% are listed as being in a relationship.It's unclear how many of the 450 departures were directly tied to relationship statuses, but this week's numbers were 40% higher than the usual male attrition rate, Hinge's Vice President of marketing, Karen Fein, noted in a company statement. The company has not released any data regarding female users leaving the app.Hinge is not alone in this problem. Thirty percent of Tinder users are married, according to a GlobalWebIndex report.