Tinder, the popular dating app, launched a series of pop shots at a Vanity Fair journalist yesterday following an article that the app felt was critical of the “hook-up culture” the magazine claimed it has created amongst New York 20-somethings.
Tinder’s Twitter account took umbrage at the reporting carried out by journalist Nancy Jo Sales in her article Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse’. The Vanity Fair piece reports on how the New York dating scene has become heavily influenced by casual sexual encounters fuelled by the prevalence of apps like Tinder, facilitating a generation only looking for a physical connection rather than an emotional one.
Tinder enables, Sales writes, millions of people to use “their phones as a sort of all-day, every-day, handheld singles club, where they might find a sex partner as easily as they’d find a cheap flight to Florida.”
In response, Tinder was critical of the one-sided depiction of its users in the article, and called out Sales for her “incredibly biased view.”
It's disappointing that @VanityFair thought that the tiny number of people you found for your article represent our entire global userbase ðŸ˜
— 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
There was no love lost between the company and the name-checked Sales, who responded to ask whether the company was suggesting she should have sought its permission before writing about Tinder and the hook-up culture she alleges it supports.
@Tinder not clear: are you suggesting journalists need your okay to write about you?
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) August 12, 2015
My article isn't even about @Tinder lol
— Nancy Jo Sales (@nancyjosales) August 12, 2015
The journalist then retweeted many tweets she had received from readers supporting her article as well as calling into question Tinder’s reaction.
The sad part is, @Tinder is only angry because @nancyjosales thoroughly exposed their model. Target young impressionable people = profit.
— The Truth (@DavidInspired) August 12, 2015
.@nancyjosales the vanity fair piece was a stunning, depressing + important insight into my generation of hypocritical narcissists
— Oliver Kay (@olliekay10) August 12, 2015
@nancyjosales truth is a hard pill to swallow and it seems it's been excessively difficult for the architects of the "@Tinder generation".
— Spacewalk (@spacewalkmusic) August 12, 2015
