They say nothing can unite people than sharing in the things they like. You see it all over the internet. But what about uniting people by the things they hate most?
One new dating app called Hater is trying to pair the cynics and cranks of the world. The app will give you 3,000 topics you can weigh in on, like gluten-free diets, butt selfies, and slow walkers. Then once you’ve documented your petty self, the app will match you with other similar haters of the world. It’s a delightful concept, really.
Using that data, the app was able to qualify what people most hated in each state. With its more than several hundred thousand users, the company showed that people can hate some very different things. Just look.
People in Idaho most hate asking for directions while Kansans somehow hate Seinfeld. Maine hates “Boys Night” while Indiana hates bloggers (that’s not very nice!). All the data is fascinating when it comes to surveying how different states across the country can be in their dislikes.
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While hate seems to be the comedically operative word here, the company really isn’t about hate at all. Founder and CEO Brendan Alper is a former Goldman Sachs banker, who wrote sketch comedy in his free time. He stumbled upon the idea for a dating app uniting haters while writing sketches one night. That idea was reinforced when he discovered a study that found people most connect over things they don’t like versus things they do.
“A lot of people initially have that gut reaction because the word ‘hate’ is so charged,” Alper said. “But it’s not really about hating at the end of the day—it’s about empathy and finding someone who feels the same way and has been through the same things.”
