Tinder revamp aimed at Gen Zers who 'don't have as much sex'
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Tinder’s reputation as a “hookup app” will be a thing of the past if the app’s new chief executive has his way.
Tinder revolutionized dating for a generation of millennials upon its launch in 2012, but it has been losing appeal among members of the Gen Z demographic, or people aged 18-28, not including those too young to download dating apps.
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Now, Spencer Rascoff is hoping to win over Gen Zers who he says “don’t have as much sex.”
“This generation of Gen Z, 18 to 28 — it’s not a hookup generation. They don’t drink as much alcohol, they don’t have as much sex,” the 49-year-old chief executive of Tinder owner Match Group, told investors this month, per the New York Post.
“We need to adapt our products to accept that reality,” added Rascoff, the co-founder and former CEO of real estate marketplace Zillow.
The company wants to create low-pressure ways for people to meet on the app, such as a “double dating” feature, to win over Gen Zers.
The feature allows users to pair up with friends and match with other pairs for dates. It will be launched globally this summer, Rascoff told the Wall Street Journal. Tinder has been testing “double dating” in Europe and has seen positive results.
Rascoff took the top job at Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, a few months ago, and has said that fixing Tinder is his main concern.
He recently announced that he’d be stepping in to lead Tinder, too, after Faye Iosotaluno posted on LinkedIn that she will depart in June after less than two years on the job.
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In an internal memo, Rascoff asked staffers to speed up product changes, leverage artificial intelligence and focus on improving user safety, according to the Journal.
Employees should focus on improving the user experience, even if it comes at the expense of short-term revenue, he said.
“Users don’t want more matches, they want better ones,” he said in the memo.
Gen Zers have left the platform in search of dating apps that could lead to more lasting relationships.
Among 500 dating app users, about 85% said they didn’t use Tinder because of its association with “hookups,” according to a 2023 Wells Fargo survey.
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