Hinge has "swiped left" on a culture of dating apps that they say fail to foster meaningful connections. Instead, they're doubling down on efforts to help their users find genuine relationships.
The company, once a peer of Tinder, OkCupid, and Happn, has been pursuing a new look for the past nine months. Following user surveys and various pilots, the new service launched Tuesday, introducing a "story" interface Hinge says sparks five times more conversations than in the past.
Some Millennials – the target market of the proliferation of dating apps – say they aren't actually looking for relationships, but there may be many more who are. Hinge hopes to appeal to that demographic, and possibly even change the conversation about dating apps.
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The company's reincarnation was spurred by a 2015 Vanity Fair story that came down hard on dating apps, saying they encourage a culture that has destroyed romance, dating, and relationships. The article prompted Mr. McLeod to reflect that, "When I started Hinge as the first social-media-integrated dating service in 2011, this was certainly not the world I imagined."
Can they displace eHarmony as the "seeking meaningful relationship" app?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 18 2016, @01:01PM
Well, you could start a journal entry here [ducking].
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Wednesday October 19 2016, @05:41AM
No need to take cover my fellow cynic - soylent is very close but not quite there (which is a good thing given its purpose).
But it does point to the problem - today it is either "not quite there" or "overshot to the point of being unusable".