How Hinge disrupted online dating with data
In , Vanity Fair ran an article castigating hookup culture. The author prophesized a “dating apocalypse” and decried the multifarious dating apps of the day. The article pointed a finger at, among others, Hinge for “ swiping romance from the screen. ”
Back then, Hinge’s app–just like Tinder and Bumble–allowed profile swiping, a feature inspired by slot machine gaming psychology and widely blamed for trivializing modern romance. But unlike the other giants of the day, Hinge was listening.
In a 2016 interview , Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod told Vanity Fair that its dating apocalypse article had spurred a rigorous interrogation of the value of swiping to Hinge’s users and its impact on their lives. (more…)