Governance Matters

Eve Ng discusses how social media can be a used as a new tool to both shape and hinder the feminist movement. Ng explains how social media is used as a weapon against females, as social media platforms can foster a harsh environment for females (718-719). Ng expresses her concern of how sexual harassment can take on new forms of social media which can range from posting sexually inappropriate comments on females pictures to females receiving sexually insulting messages on social media (Ng, 718-719). Whitney Wolfe was an ex co-founder of Tinder and recently sued her coworker and ex boyfriend Justin Marteen, along with Tinder for sexual harassment. Marteen had sent inappropriate messages to Wolfe after her breakup and when she explained to her other coworkers about the situation, nothing was done about it. Hence, Last September Wolfe settled the law suit for one million dollars and two months later she launched, Bumble, which is a re-appropriation of Tinder (Johnson, 2015).

 Bumble is advertised as the new feminist dating App (Kosoff, 2015). Ng claimed that social media platforms can also be constructed to bring about gender equality; and this is the goal of Bumble (718-719). Wolfe has developed the app to govern user’s behavior, so that women will not receive inappropriate messages, which happens frequently on Tinder. Van Dijck claims that the analyses of governance can be understood by looking at the way in which a platforms manages mechanics, communication, and data traffic (38). Wolfe explicitly states in the terms and services that users are to interact responsibly and safety. Van Dicjk outlines that users are to be authentic, as she hopes that connections on Bumble will transform into real relationships, thus cat fishing is prohibited. Van Dicjk comments on how real world norms are translated into social media platforms guidelines (38). The terms and services explain how online illegal activity can be prosecuted in court, In addition Wolfe implements cultural norms into Bumble by asking that users are to treat others as if they are interacting in real world. Thus prejudice and sexual harassment are not tolerated. Van Dijck notes how most platforms include in their terms and services their right to sell and use users data as they please (39). Bumble claims to protect their users privacy. Conversely, when reading further in depth, Bumble states that they have the right to sell users information during business transformers , to service providers, and law enforcement. Furthermore, Bumble clearly states that information/ pictures which individuals share on the app, can be used. This includes the content which people share during conversations such as; giving their phone number. Also, the moment a person downloads Bumble, the company has access to the persons cookies saved in their hardware. Additionally, one way which Bumble keeps users intrigued in the app is by tracking the amount of clicks and time spent on profiles using Google Analytic. Therefore, individuals who get swiped right the most, and have the most time spent on their profile are assumed to be attractive and therefore shown first to new users.

            To recap, Wolfe’s goal is to curve users behavior by allowing the women to initiate conversation and by outlining guidelines of the expectations, which are expected by users. My experience on Bumble proved to be very similar to that of Tinder. I still received unwanted sexual messages. However, when I searched reviews of Bumble on business websites, such as Business Insider and Forbes, Bumble received great reviews, as the women discussed going on several dates (Kosoff, 2015) (Johnson, 2015). Then when I dug further and found reviews on personal blogs, individuals discussed a similar experience to my own; by explaining how the messages they received were sexually inappropriate.  This makes me wonder if the articles written on Business Insider and Forbes could have been promotional and written to attract stakeholders in Bumble.

Works Cited

Johnson, Emma. “Will a swipe right on this dating app change sexual politics forever?”. Forbes. September, 25, 2015. Web.

Kosoff, Maya. “I spent five weeks using dating apps- here’s the one I surprisingly liked the most”. Business Insider. October 24, 2015. Web.

Ng, Eve. “Structural Approaches to Feminist social media strategies: Institutional Governance and a Social Media Toolbox. ” Feminist Media Studies. 2015: 15 (4). 718-722.

Van Dijk, Jose. The culture of Connectivity. Oxford university press, 2013.

Works Referenced:

Wolfe, Whitney. Bumble. www.Bumble.com.