When you're browsing online dating profiles, coming across a coworker is like being surprised with an impromptu ice bucket challenge: unexpected, shocking, and probably unpleasant. Most people want a clear separation between their business and personal lives, and knowing that Joe from accounting has been made aware of your online dating existence flies directly in the face of that. Invite-only dating app The League aims to solve that pesky problem by automatically blocking your coworkers.
It's pretty simple: When you get invited to join, you input your LinkedIn information, which The League then uses to weed out anyone you may share an office with. The app was dreamed up by former Google employee Amanda Bradford, so I suspect the algorithms are on point. The emphasis on LinkedIn bios makes sense, since The League focuses heavily on people's careers and educational backgrounds.
Besides keeping you safe from the awkwardness of swiping left on your boss, The League focuses on actually making connections. Much like Tinder, it matches you with people you've expressed interest in who have done the same for you, but The League wants you two to actually talk. If users don't send enough messages to their matches, they can be removed from the service. Plus, The League gives each user a "flakiness score" to track how much contact they're making with others. Bradford wants to make sure everyone on the app is above par. “There’s an issue with low-quality members on dating apps in general,” she says to Re/code.
The League's iPhone app has launched only in San Francisco so far, although is has a crazy-long waiting list of at least 10,000 people across the country. The first 1,000 members have been handpicked by Bradford, and they each have one invite code to pass along to someone they know. The League will roll out once the wait lists in other cities prove the demand is there, and the Android version is on its way next year.
What do you think of The League's attempt to keep coworkers from popping up as matches?
