Tinder’s new head pushes company to move away from ‘hookup’ reputation and rebrand for Gen Z users

Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of Tinder parent company Match Group, is promising to change the reputation of Tinder as a casual hookup app into a more serious dating app. 

“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,” Rascoff said to a group of investors, according to The Wall Street Journal. “We need to adapt our products to accept that reality.” 

Unlike the millennial generation, which helped popularize Tinder and shaped the dating app into a domestic and international success, Gen Z appears to be less interested in purely casual dating experiences. Some commentators believe that Gen Z is a generation that is tired of “ghosting,” which is defined as suddenly cutting off communications with another person without warning, and instead seeking more authentic dating experiences. 

Spencer Rascoff, the CEO of Tinder parent company Match Group, is promising to change the reputation of Tinder as a casual hookup app into a more serious dating app.  (Getty Images)

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Rascoff signaled that Gen Z’s dating preferences are key to the future success of Tinder as a company. 

“Users don’t want more matches, they want better ones,” Rascoff wrote in the memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Better matches, according to Rascoff, means fundamentally shifting the way that users interact with Tinder. 

“Think of Tinder like a bar where people come together to meet new people,” Rascoff said. “We have to innovate to drive more people into our establishment, and that means renovating our bar.”

Rascoff is slated to take the top role at Tinder as well, in a leadership shift that shows the company’s attempts to meet changing dating trends for a younger generation of users. 

Better matches, according to Rascoff, means fundamentally shifting the way that users interact with Tinder.  (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

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While Gen Z struggles with “ghosting” in dating, they also struggle to meet important life milestones like marriage. 

In the dating world, Gen Zers have access to more potential partners than perhaps any other generation before them. Yet, at the same time, this age group, now between 13-28 years old, is getting married years after their Baby Boomer grandparents did, swiping through potential partners, and going out on dates with multiple people only to face higher rates of rejection.

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Fox News’ Taylor Penley contributed to this report.