IBTimes
The tech company's PR just went on a 30+ tweet tweetstorm lambasting the magazine for a recent feature story in the September issue of Vanity Fair.
The article, titled "Tinder and the Dawn of the 'Dating Apocalypse,'" uses Tinder to talk about the effects of technology and smartphone dating apps on youth "hook-up" culture and dating.
Using a series of anecdotes of millennials at bars, big city hangouts, and colleges, Nancy Jo Sales paints a picture of Tinder and its competitors (Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid, etc) as signaling a death knell for modern courtship.
While some frustration may have been warranted - the piece, after all, reads like so many trend pieces on dating in our technology/social media-obsessed world - Tinder went a little overboard.
It all started when Tinder's PR people took issue with a tidbit the author tweeted about the supposed number of Tinder users who are married.
Hey @nancyjosales - that survey is incorrect. If you're interested in having a factual conversation, we're here. https://t.co/SLWlTLvJuf
- Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
And then, the tweetstorm began:
-@VanityFair & @nancyjosales - we have lots of data. We surveyed 265,000 of our users. But it doesn't seem like you're interested in facts.
- Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Our actual data says that 1.7% of Tinder users are married - not 30% as the preposterous GlobalWebIndex article indicated.
- Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
It's disappointing that @VanityFair thought that the tiny number of people you found for your article represent our entire global userbase ??
- Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
Next time reach out to us first @nancyjosales… that's what journalists typically do.
- 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
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
The tweetstorm goes on for some 20-25+ more tweets. Check them all out here.
In the Vanity Fair article, the authors queried groups of guys - young professionals who view their own use of Tinder as sport, measuring each other's success with the app based on metrics like, "Who's slept with the best, hottest girls," as one man put it.
Some of the women interviewed for the article are considerably less aggressive about hooking up, but can still be found at bars and restaurants diving into various dating apps on their phones rather than talking to people outside the group they're with.
The article makes the argument that apps like Tinder are "ruining" the concept of traditional dating. In its defense, Tinder says it's not just about hooking up, it's about "creating connections" - 8 billion so far - of the kind "that never would have been made."