Today’s lesson is simple: Don’t be like Tinder.
Not that Tinder has the best reputation around to begin with–many people use it for hookups rather than to actually find dates–but they did not do themselves any favors by going on a recent Twitter rant.
Classify this under TWITTER RANT and save yourself and your brand unnecessary reputation repair.
The folks at Tinder were bothered by the article that Nancy Jo Sales wrote for Vanity Fair. To paraphrase the content, Sales spoke with single individuals who listed Tinder as one of the problems in the dating world because people use it to find a one night stand nearby rather than searching for the love of their life.
Our actual data says that 1.7% of Tinder users are married — not 30% as the preposterous GlobalWebIndex article indicated.
— Tinder (@Tinder) August 11, 2015
The above tweet is what began Tinder’s embarrassing rant. More than thirty messages were sent out by the company’s Twitter handle. In doing such, it caught the attention of the platform’s users.
@Tinder @nancyjosales I've never seen a brand meltdown in real time before… Where do I get my free shirt?
— Ian Chan (@theianchan) August 12, 2015
The @Tinder meltdown is just another reason why I don't use the app. Classier apps are out the. Good article @nancyjosales
— Jerry Munk (@jerry_munk) August 12, 2015
Alerting their followers in a distasteful manner actually urged readers to check out what the Vanity Fair piece said.
Remember that it is okay to respond to situations through your social networks, but you need to do so in a way that will not cost you your image or break your trust with followers.