HeTexted.com: Strangers Analyze Text Messages from Your Date
New website lets the public analyze text messages women receive from men.
Oct. 13, 2012 — -- "Sorry I snuck out last night I couldn't sleep." "If you're out tonight, bring Ali?" "Hey, Sex was cool the other day."
They are the sort of text messages that you probably wish no one ever saw. Or they're the type of text messages you'd show only to your friends to get their opinions. They are also a handful of the recent texts that have been posted to HeTexted.com, a website that launched publicly this week with the goal of giving women a place to go to get feedback on the text messages they receive from men.
"I had this idea a long time ago, I saw this happening everywhere. Lots of different sets of girlfriends trying to analyze text messages they had gotten," Lisa Winning, one of the founders of the site, told ABC News. Lisa, who was in business development in Australia, met Carrie Henderson McDermott, a beauty assistant at Glamour magazine. Lisa decided to move to the U.S. and the two of them started working on HeTexted.com.
The site is fairly simple to use. You log in either with your Facebook or Twitter account, or you can make a completely new and anonymous account for HeTexted.com. Then you can upload a screenshot of your text or you can type it out. You then write a "…So Now I'm Wondering?" blurb about the situation, including whatever specifics you'd like (ex: how long you have been dating, etc.). When that is all set and uploaded, people can click the "He's Into You" or the "He's Not Into You" or the "Verdict is Still Out" buttons. Or they can also leave longer comments providing deeper analysis and advice.
According to Winning and McDermott, since launching this week the site has seen over half a million unique page views. They wouldn't share the user numbers, but said they are averaging three new users per minute.
But there's also been the criticism of the site since its launch. Because it's only focused on women and some of the messages are demeaning, some have said it looks like more of a place to poke fun at women than actually help them. "HeTexted is Really About Mocking the Clueless," The Atlantic called its post on the new service.
The two founders, however, maintain that the site is 100 percent devoted to helping women, and they are removing texts that seem fake or mock women.
"If you look at it we have so many commenters and users who are finding it very useful and very positive," Winning said. Lisa also pointed out that many men are asking questions. There is an Ask Bros section and the two said they have received between five to ten thousand questions for the "bros." And not all of them have been from women. They also maintain that the site can be used by those in same-sex relationships.
"You can be a very strong, smart woman and get a ridiculous message and want to dissect it at length. It is pretty normal," Carrie said.
One thing is for sure, though, the founders don't have the time right now for dissecting messages. "It's not a site, it's a brand," McDermott said. The two plan to roll out other sites and deals, including a SheTexted.com for men and even women in same-sex couples. They also promise there will be an iPhone app in a month to six weeks and another for Android after that.