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Lulu (app)

Luluvise, Inc.[1]
IndustrySocial networking service, mobile app
FounderAlexandra Chong
Headquarters
New York City
,
United States
WebsiteNo longer available, formerly onlulu.com

Lulu (formerly Luluvise) is a mobile app formerly available for iOS and Android that allowed female users to make positive and negative evaluations of male users on the basis of their romantic, personal, and sexual appeal. The app allowed only female users to access the evaluation system, and evaluations made through the app are attached publicly and anonymously.

In 2015 the app moved away from Facebook, and currently only allows registration via mobile phone numbers, for both male and female users.

Lulu describes itself as "a private network for girls to express and share their opinions openly and honestly"[2] about the weaknesses and strengths of the manners, appearances, spending habits, and career ambitions of their male acquaintances. The company's expansion of its user base focuses heavily on recruiting undergraduate[3] members of American all-female sororities, which commentators describe as reflected in the "app's linguistic and visual design [which] is visibly influenced by US sorority culture."[4]

The app has been highly controversial, and the functionalities offered by the app are frequently described negatively in the popular press as "sexist and objectifying",[5] "nonconsensual",[6] and "shallow and mean".[7] Although female users cannot write their own comments to avoid bullying, the company's harshest critics hold that the pre-selected terms used within the app for evaluations in the form of hashtags are instrumental in "reinforcing completely horrible stereotypes",[8] accuse the site of tolerating a sexist double standard,[9][10] and liken the "candor"[11] for which the app aims to a form of public harassment.[12] The company's founder, Alexandra Chong, refers to the app's functionalities as "provocative" and "ground-breaking"[7] and the website holds that the multiple-choice nature of evaluations creates "a safe and positive place for girls and guys".[2]

The company has also been accused of inappropriate use of Facebook accounts' user data. Lulu does not query male Facebook users for their consent in integrating their profiles in the app, and at the time of its release the product caused notable social "recoil"[13] and received significant negative coverage in the press for its violation of Facebook's policies on the use of user data.[14] The company notes that its data collection policies are now in compliance with Facebook's Platform Policies. Also, it points out how users who have unwittingly been incorporated into Lulu's databases may contact their support center for the removal of their personal data.

Lulu was sold to Badoo in 2016.

  1. ^ "Lulu". Google Play. 14 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  2. ^ a b "How Lulu works". Lulu.com. Luluvise Inc. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Lulu: Fake feminism for the 'hashtag generation'". Zeynep Zileli Rabanea. Al Jazeera English. Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  4. ^ Schoeneman, Deborah (20 November 2013). "What's He Really Like? Check the Lulu App". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  5. ^ Jupp, Emily (6 February 2013). "Luluvise: Nobody—male or female—comes out of this boyfriend-rating app looking good". The Independent. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  6. ^ Hess, Amanda (7 February 2013). "Rating Men on Lulu Isn't Empowering. It's Creepy". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  7. ^ a b Strasbaugh, Werner (7 May 2013). "Lulu strikes OSU". The Daily Barometer. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  8. ^ Cardiff, Ashley (7 February 2013). "Review Men Like Restaurants With New Lulu App, The Yelp Of Romance (For Girls!)". The Gloss. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  9. ^ Griffin, Spencer (7 March 2013). "'Lulu' app shows social double standard". The Echo. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  10. ^ Kelly, Audrey (27 February 2013). "Lulu app supports double standard for objectification". The LU Chameleon. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  11. ^ "About Us". Lulu.com. Luluvise Inc. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  12. ^ Benedikt, Allison (7 February 2013). "Rating Men on Lulu Isn't Empowering. It's Creepy". Slate. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  13. ^ O'Connor, Maureen (13 November 2013). "The Nice Girls of Lulu, So-Called 'Yelp for Men'". New York Magazine. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
  14. ^ Scott, Tom (8 February 2012). "Luluvise's date-rating site shows where your Facebook data can end up". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 November 2013.