3 Reasons Why a Twitter Rant is Rarely Helpful to Your Business

By Megan Quinn

In recent news, Tinder spoke out on Twitter against Vanity Fair about an article on the online dating app written by journalist Nancy Jo Sales. Tinder went on a 31-tweet rant after they clearly disapproved of the article’s viewpoint of how Tinder has negatively impacted dating in our modern age. But does venting online solve anything? Sure, speaking out on social media got people engaged and talking about Tinder and Vanity Fair, but not necessarily in the best ways for Tinder. 

After Tinder’s online tirade, many people surprisingly spoke up in defense of Sales and Vanity Fair. I’m sure that this wasn’t the kind of response that Tinder had anticipated. While Tinder also had many supporters posting pictures of successful married Tinder couples, they later released a statement explaining their Twitter outburst:

“We have a passionate team that truly believes in Tinder. While reading a recent Vanity Fair article about today’s dating culture, we were saddened to see that the article didn’t touch upon the positive experiences that the majority of our users encounter daily,” Tinder said in the statement. “Our intention was to highlight the many statistics and amazing stories that are sometimes left unpublished, and, in doing so, we overreacted.”

Tinder’s rant may have seemed unwarranted at first, but it actually may have been a calculated PR move. In fact, BuzzFeed journalist Claudia Koerner said she was contacted by a PR rep from Tinder and was told to be on the lookout for a response.

@summeranne I in fact got a pitch from a PR person that Tinder was about to tweet storm, and I should watch for it.

— Claudia Koerner (@ClaudiaKoerner) August 12, 2015

From a professional viewpoint, Tinder would have been safer with just releasing a factual statement in response to the Vanity Fair article. Below are three reasons why Tinder should not have blasted their thoughts publicly on social media.

1.       It’s annoying and whiny – Tinder came off looking unprofessional and immature about the situation and the criticism. Twitter user @meowseo compared the reaction to their “immature ex-boyfriend.”

2.       People can screenshot – Once something is on the Internet, it never dies and topics can resurface at any time. This incident is something that the Tinder management team will remember and have to revisit for years to come.

3.       Things can get heated – Emotions can quickly pour out and things can be said in the heat of the moment that will have to be resolved later. It seems like the Tinder rant was emotionally charged by someone involved with their social media team. 

It’s important to stop and think before starting a social media rant that may hurt your business later. We rarely recommend taking an emotional approach to this kind of situation. Tinder may have been worried that the Vanity Fair article would hurt their business, but in responding, they ended up making themselves look far worse in the process.

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Does Your Headshot Make You Look Competent, Likeable or Influential?

By Megan Quinn

I recently tested out my professional headshot through a web service called “Photofeeler.” This photo comparison website has been gaining traction lately as a tool used by professionals - and even for Tinder or Facebook users - to see if their photos are attracting the right audiences for business, dating or social purposes.

This website allows users to upload profile photos for those three categories, and receive feedback on the effectiveness of each photo. Users can vote on the photos of other participants to gain virtual credits to use in turn for their own photo comparison analysis. A brilliant, endless feedback cycle!

I chose a headshot that is on our company’s website and my personal LinkedIn profile for the “business” section without hesitation (and when I had time) proceeded to vote and earn 40 credits. Votes are cast on a 0-3 scale of whether the photo communicates a sense that the person is “competent,” “likable,” and “influential.”

The rankings are a comparison between your photo's score and all the rest that have been tested on the Photofeeler site given as a percentile. So, for instance, a score of 71% means your photo did better than 71% of photos tested on their site.

I guess I can give the influential category some leeway since I am at the start of my career in public relations. Even though I may not have received the kind of numbers I was hoping for in that section, overall, the voting style is very classy.

After casting a vote, you may also submit constructive feedback on a user’s photo. There are no write-in comments, instead there are options to choose from such as “a little too blurry,” or “would like it better with a different background,” to say politely. Some users commented that my photo is great and for this I have Allure West Studios to thank!

The biggest takeaway from this experience has been realizing how much a person’s photo can count as a first impression. Since many of us probably have our photos online, it’s important to remember that our photos should be sending the right messages. For example, a professional traveler isn’t going to be wearing a suit in an office setting for their headshot. There really isn’t a cut and dry method!