LinkedIn Launches New Dating App, InLove
“Who would want to date someone they wouldn’t want to found a startup with?”
LINKEDIN HQ, SUNNYVALE — In a bid to increase user engagement, the professional networking service LinkedIn has launched a new dating app that allows users to match with each other based on the quality of their professional profiles.
The app, called InLove, is intended to tap into the millennial obsession with dating apps. Users see a stream of LinkedIn profiles containing a person’s picture, professional history, and educational background. When two users match with each other, they are placed into an InMail messaging thread to introduce themselves.
LinkedIn product manager Anna Novak told Halting Problem that she was surprised by InLove’s sudden popularity. “Judging from the spike in our metrics, it turns out that a lot of people will judge a potential romantic partner based off a headshot and resume alone,” she said. “I mean, like, who would want to date someone they wouldn’t want to found a startup with?”
Users of the service were nonchalant about using InLove. “If people are trying to recruit for their companies on Tinder, I don’t see why it’s any stranger to find love on LinkedIn,” said Alberto Rodriguez, 24.
Another user mentioned that they arranged several dates through InLove with ambiguous success. “None of the matches lasted more than a few dinners, but one person referred me to their current company and I start on Monday, so it wasn’t all bad.”
Halting Problem reached out to Microsoft, which acquired LinkedIn in 2016, to ask how InLove fit into Microsoft’s business strategy. A Microsoft spokesperson replied, “Satya’s very supportive of InLove. We acquired LinkedIn because Microsoft is all about being in tune with what the kids like these days, and if the kids are into professional romantic social networking, then we are too.”