{"id":3246,"date":"2018-06-28T14:05:27","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T18:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=3246"},"modified":"2023-01-09T11:29:27","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T16:29:27","slug":"swiped-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/swiped-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiped Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jessica<\/p>\n

Weather forecast calls for a rainy weekend. What are you going to do?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of about 350 questions you\u2019ll be prompted to answer before you can see what your match looks like when using Vyve, a dating app co-founded by business administration alumnus Daniel Russo.<\/p>\n

A year out of college, Russo \u201915 and his friends found they were struggling to have meaningful conversations with people they met using other dating apps like Tinder and Bumble.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one problem we found with every single dating app is that you don\u2019t talk. You get matched and the person says \u2018hello,\u2019 you say \u2018hello,\u2019 they say \u2018what\u2019s up?\u2019 You say \u2018not much.\u2019 It\u2019s the same conversation every single time!\u201d says Russo. \u201cHonestly, I felt like I couldn\u2019t be myself on there.\u201d<\/p>\n

As someone who had dozens of ideas for apps over the years, Russo said the idea for a dating app that puts personality first came to him as a \u201cbrain blast,\u201d and he immediately knew it was worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

He partnered with longtime friend Chris Moskal, an electrical engineer, and the two brought on graphic designer Juliana Scialabba. After coding much of the app themselves, Russo and Moskal brought on a team of developers to finish building the app and together, they fleshed out features they hoped would help Vyve rise above other dating apps that perpetuate the hookup culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone labels millennials as, \u2018Oh they want the hookup culture\u2019\u2014but I don\u2019t know, I\u2019m a millennial and I don\u2019t really have any friends that want that,\u201d says Russo. \u201cThere are people you\u2019d match with on other apps and they just want to meet up. We want to keep away all of the \u2018creepers\u2019\u2014anyone that you wouldn\u2019t want at your Thanksgiving dinner pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it took several years to design and code\u2014the project has been largely self-funded along with the help of a small investment\u2014the free app launched in 2017 and has had over 10,000 downloads to date.<\/p>\n

With the motto \u201cMore to \u2018Love at First Sight,\u2019\u201d Vyve focuses on supporting real connections based on personality, in a safe environment.<\/p>\n

Russo says safety was of major importance, so every user must complete an application for approval before they can use the app. Once approved, users fill out basic preferences describing what they are looking for, including things such as age range, gender, ethnicity, and religious preference. (Continue reading below.)<\/em><\/p>\n

Curious how it works? Here\u2019s a quick primer on the Let\u2019s Vyve process.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Home Screen: This is where you search for matches.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
Though matched on personality, you can set certain preferences.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
Answer an ice-breaker question to start up a conversation.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
The more you chat, the more your match's photo unblurs.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
Chat until the Vyve button appears. Click to reveal photos.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
After the big reveal, choose whether you've Vyved or not.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
If you Vyved, your match is placed in your MyFive.<\/div><\/div>
\"\"
Chat more to reveal social media links and question logs.<\/div><\/div><\/div>

 <\/p><\/div>\n

Location settings are also set\u2014a person can choose global mode or restrict parameters within a few miles. Russo says they purposefully leave out physical attributes such as height or hair color. After preferences are set, users are then prompted to answer ice breaker questions before being matched with other people with similar preferences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use the ice breakers as a way of starting up the conversation differently every time,\u201d Russo says.<\/p>\n

What sets Vyve apart from other dating apps is that the faces and personal information of other users are blurred when you first match. Then, based on the rate of messaging between two people\u2014such as the amount and length of messages being exchanged\u2014the face of each user begins to unblur. After a real connection has been established, the two users can agree to fully reveal their photos.<\/p>\n

If they\u2019ve \u201cVyved\u201d with one another, they are stored in each other\u2019s \u201cMyFive,\u201d where each user keeps their five strongest matches.<\/p>\n

As they continue to chat, more information, such as additional photos and links to other social media accounts, begins to unblur as well. The last thing to unlock is the log where the answers to all questions they\u2019ve been prompted with are stored.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives you a little bit more fuel that you can use\u2014you get to know your match even better,\u201d he says. \u201cIt can happen in as little as an hour or three days\u2014it all depends on how much you\u2019re talking.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you feel you\u2019re no longer Vyving with one match, you can remove them from your MyFive\u2014that person then has the option to \u201cRevyve\u201d once a day to try and save the relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are times when someone may disconnect from you due to a misunderstanding, or because you were away from your phone for too long,\u201d he says. \u201cSo, it gives you a chance to explain and respark the relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Russo says the reaction to the app has been overwhelmingly positive\u2014a high rating of 4.3 from users puts Vyve\u2019s rating above both Tinder and Bumble in the iTunes App Store.<\/p>\n

In the near future, the app will become available to Android devices. The team plans to soon expand to be more inclusive of non-English speaking users, and they hope to one day offer more personalized matchmaking experiences such as Vyve-sponsored dates and meet ups.<\/p>\n

Russo says stories are slowly beginning to come in about people finding success using the app. After contacting two users who left the community to gauge why they deleted the app, Russo says he was told the two no longer needed the app after Vyving with one another.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as you buy in to the no judgment, you can go along with it and maybe learn about yourself. You\u2019re saying stuff that you wouldn\u2019t usually say,\u201d says Russo. \u201cAnd I honestly hope that when people are on Vyve, they learn about themselves and in that process, they find someone who loves them for them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Daniel Russo ’15 was tired of dating apps that perpetuated the hookup culture. So he created one that brings people together based on personality, not looks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":3253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"image_focus":"{\"x\":53,\"y\":39}","hide_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-back"],"thumbnail":"\"\"","catString":"The Back","issue":"Summer 2018","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3246"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16681,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3246\/revisions\/16681"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}