2021-07-26-03.51.21
2021-07-26-03.51.21
I sent Ashley Carman this message regarding the “photo tip” thing. She’s currently my favorite tech media voice who actually writes about social software, and has been for years, now.
Hey Ashley, I know I added you to a group DM a few weeks ago (I figured I could allow myself a single one of those, but I understand if you’ve muted me) and this isn’t a story, exactly, but it’s important to me, I suppose.
on the Tinder iOS app, this “Photo Tip” appeared on on my profile page and I’ve been thinking a lot about it ever since. I live in mid-Missouri and working class single mothers definitely make up a sizable group represented on local tinder.
it’s just one thing, but - in a quick refresh of your recent coverage of Tinder, alone, I noticed that the narrative surrounding it is very positive, and for good reason. anyway - I know you don’t need any editorializing from me… this just really disrupted that illusion that Tinder actually exists primarily to “connect” people, when they are financially incentivized to keep users out of any sort of committed relationship for as long as possible.
if you do decide to investigate further, I discovered that you can reliably prompt the tips to cycle by “force quitting” the app and opening it back up. most of them are plenty innocuous, if not wholesome. “kiss those selfies goodbye,” or “got tattoos? this is the place to show it off.” (yes, those are verbatim. lol grammar.) “the only weapon we want to see is a smile” is my favorite.