WOMEN FIRST OVER MEN,TINDER INTRODUCES NEW FEATURE TO LET WOMEN PREVENT MEN FROM MESSAGING THEM FIRST

Tinder plans to give women more power in its online-dating app by adding a setting similar to a key feature for younger rival Bumble. Tinder will let female users choose whether they want to initiate all conversations with future matches.It will soon let women decide whether they want to prevent men from sending the first message, MarketWatch reports. “Often, women don’t really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that’s great,” Match Group CEO Mandy Ginsberg told the publication.

Women can choose whether they want this feature on or off, and it seems to be only for heterosexual women. This, and other features in the works are an attempt to “curtail bad behavior, any negative behavior or advances, and inappropriate communication,” Ginsberg says. This all makes sense to me. As much as women might not like sending the first message, they also might want more control over who can reach out to them.

Tinder users of either gender can make the first move now, but a future update—Tinder did not provide a targeted launch date—will let women choose to receive messages only from men they choose. “Often, women don’t really want the pressure of kicking off the conversation, but if they want it, that’s great,” said Ginsberg, who took over the top role last month at Match Group. 

“Giving people the choice versus telling people how to engage is the big difference.” The women-talk-first setting is the cornerstone of Bumble’s dating app, which also has other features meant to give women more control over the online-dating experience. Bumble was launched by Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, who left the company and sued for sexual harassment and discrimination, reportedly receiving a $1 million settlement.

Match reportedly tried to acquire Bumble at a valuation of more than $1 billion, as the younger app was estimated to top 20 million users. Ginsberg said that the company doesn’t comment on acquisition rumors and is “in a very unique position where we’re seeing such strong business growth that we don’t feel the need to go buy anything.” Tinder’s new option will be different from Bumble because it allows female users to opt in to start the conversation instead of making it the standard, Ginsberg noted. “The feedback that we’ve heard is that women don’t always want to be forced to make a move, so we want to give people the ability to choose,” Ginsberg said. 

In response to a request for comment, Bumble pointed to a statement Wolfe Herd gave TechCrunch about this MarketWatch story. “We applaud any company making business decisions that empower women,” she said. Ginsberg emphasized that Match is trying to “curtail bad behavior, any negative behavior or advances, and inappropriate communication” across its various dating properties. Also, she noted Match can roll out similar female-focused features globally on other brands, and has already done so at properties like Meetic, a European service that awards a “gentleman’s badge” to its most respectful users. 

Tinder is the financial star for Match Group. It accounted for about 30% of the company’s revenue last year, after doubling on an annual basis. Match has said that Tinder has more than 3 million paying subscribers, with a growing new subscription service called Tinder Gold that allows users to see who has already liked their profile.

It's unclear when the Tinder feature will roll out, but it could potentially appear within other Match Group portfolio companies, according to the company. This includes brands such as OKCupid, Plenty of Fish and Match.com.

Sources:

https://goo.gl/GVokPR