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Last week, Vanity Fair ran a feature story about hookup culture and the potentially damaging effects that apps like Tinder have on millennial relationships. The article was published under the headline "Tinder and the Dawn of the 'Dating Apocalypse,'" and Tinder wasn't very happy about it.
On Tuesday, the company spewed a torrent of angry and bizarre tweets aimed at journalist Nancy Jo Sales, who wrote the Vanity Fair piece. The meltdown began when Sales tweeted the results of a survey which showed that 30 percent of the app's users are married. Tinder contested those findings, and invited Sales to have a "factual conversation." The company then proceeded to completely lose its shit.
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 Over the course of some 30 tweets, Tinder tore apart the Vanity Fair article with the incisiveness of a hormonal teenager, claiming that Sales' story can't possibly be representative of Tinder's user base, and crying foul because she didn't talk to Tinder before publishing it. (Instead, she interviewed a lot of academics, experts, and 20-somethings who use the app.) It also disputed its reputation as a casual sex engine, writing that the app is actually used for "all kinds of reasons," including "a shit ton of marriages."
Also, why didn't Sales mention Instagram integration? Or Facebook authentication? Why didn't she speak to any of Tinder's unquantified users in North Korea, where the app is allegedly making connections despite the fact that the internet, for most North Koreans, doesn't even exist? These are Very Important Things that are changing the world, Tinder tweeted, and to exclude them from Sales' article is an affront to all of #GenerationTinder. Whatever that is.
"Highlights" are below.
-@VanityFair Little known fact: sex was invented in 2012 when Tinder was launched.
— 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 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 If you want to try to tear us down with one-sided journalism, well, that’s your prerogative.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015 You could have talked about how everyone on Tinder is authenticated through Facebook. And how we show users the friends they have in common.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015 Or you could have talked about how everyone on Tinder is on an equal playing field.
— 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 This all creates social accountability so that Tinder users treat each other well.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015 Instead, your article took an incredibly biased view, which is disappointing.
— 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 Is Kim Jong Un on Tinder?
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) August 12, 2015 Verge Video: What's the future of sex?
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