Speaking with Match Group chief Mandy Ginsberg on the future of love,

Mandy Ginsberg talks about first year on the job, Facebook threat, tackling loneliness

A decade ago, when Mandy Ginssberg asked couples how they met, some would give a fictitious answer: “Oh, we met through friends.” When she then revealed she worked at an online dating company, their answers shifted: “Oh, we actually met through Match,” they told her.

In her nearly13 years at Match Group Inc., where she became chief executive in January, Ms. Ginsberg has watched the stigma of online dating fade almost entirely. Today, many people even proudly pursue a multiapp dating strategy.

Match owns well-known dating apps including Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, along with lesser-known brands such as PetPeopleMeet.com, devoted to single pet lovers, and LDSPlanet.com, focused on those in the Mormon Church. The Dallas-based company is expanding in Latin America, Japan, South Korea and India to tap what it estimates is a market of 600 million singles.

Her first year at the helm has been an eventful one.

After unsuccessfully trying to acquire the dating app Bumble, Match sued its rival last spring for infringing patents for “swiping” and other features that have made Tinder popular.

Bumble called Match a “bully” and filed a $400 million (U.S.) lawsuit in response.

Then in May, Facebook an- nounced its entry into online dating, causing Match’s stock to drop 22% in a day, although it later recovered.

Despite the competitive pressures, the online dating business “will never, ever, ever get stale,” said Ms. Ginsberg, who recently sat down with The Wall Street Journal. “We need human connections. Even if we don’t want them, it’s this underlying craving to go seek them.” Here are edited excerpts:

The Wall Street Journal: Are you losing a lot of sleep over the Facebook move?

Ms. Ginsberg: There are a lot of other things that make me lose sleep. I worry: “What’s the roadmap look like? Are we innovating enough? Do we have the right talent?” You can’t underestimate Facebook, but I do feel confident that, with Tinder, our big growth engine, people who are 21 years old are not going to be like, “Oh, I’m going to get rid of my Tinder app in order to use Facebook.”

WSJ: Who isn’t using your apps today, and where do you see the greatest potential? Ms. Ginsberg: There are pockets of really interesting opportunity. For example, we launched Chispa about eight months ago, focused on the Latino community in the U.S., which has been really underserved. The biggest opportunity, frankly, is outside of the U.S. and Western Europe. WSJ: How do you go about gaining users in countries with dating cultures not quite like the U.S.? Ms. Ginsberg: With OkCupid, there are all these really compelling questions to get to know people. In India, those questions are different.

“Paneer on pizza: Yes or no?” “Should women work after they get married?” You wouldn’t ask that in the U.S. We’re taking a product and making sure that it becomes much more relevant. WSJ: How have your products changed in the #MeToo era? Ms. Ginsberg: I’m a woman and a mom of a 20-year-old who uses dating apps.

I think a lot about the safety and security, in particular, of our female users. It helps for us to have a portfolio [of matchmaking apps] because if there’s bad behavior on one app, we can identify that user, we’ll kick him off all the apps. I do say “him” because generally we see more bad behavior with men.

When I started this year, I thought hard about what else should we do. I kicked off a safety advisory council. Tarana Burke, who founded the [original] #MeToo movement, is on it. They’ve really been helpful in identifying if there are any gaps or what we should be doing differently. WSJ: Match Group is more than 80%-owned by Barry Dillar’s IAC/InterActive Corp. What advice has he given you?

Ms. Ginsberg: He’s a very instinctive decision-maker. He likes to get to the heart of a problem, and he pushes individuals and the team to get there. It’s not always easy. He’s been known for being a guy who believes in tension and challenging executives. But I think we’re all for the better.

WSJ: What’s an example of a problem you might bring to him?

Ms. Ginsberg: Barry Diller is [focused] around consumer delight. As we look at the Tinder roadmap and … really think through how we create more of a lifestyle experience, it’s pretty interesting to see where Barry lights up. He says, “You guys aren’t understanding the psyche of the consumer.” It’s not necessarily that he’s like, “OK, here’s how you should have solved the idea.” It’s more about the dialogue and the discussion.

WSJ: What’s the best career advice you ever received?

Ms. Ginsberg: My mother, growing up, said, “If you want something, open up your mouth and ask. What’s the worst thing that could happen? Someone could say no.”

You have to be willing to hear no. I don’t think women do it as much as men, so hopefully I will inspire other women to open up their mouth and ask.

WSJ: What will Match look like in 2025?

Ms. Ginsberg: Despite so much technology, people are more disconnected than ever. It’s really important that products like ours are all about human connections and connecting people one on one. It’s going to continue to happen over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. And it should—people are lonely out there.

Video is going to play a role. Whether people ultimately meet face to face, which I hope they do, even having that connection and that video connection…is going to be really important.

We need to look in each other’s eyes, and we need to be able to share each other’s lives, even if it’s for five minutes, an hour or for five years.

“I’m a woman and a mom of a 20-year-old who uses dating apps. I think a lot about the safety and security, in particular, of our female users.” MANDY GINSSBERG MATCH GROUP CHIEF