Talk:Partiful

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

Hello, I work for Partiful. I suggest that a Features section be added to the article with the following information:

Partiful allows users to create event invitations using customized templates. Invitations are distributed via links that support RSVP responses without requiring account registration or app installation.^[1] Hosts can poll guests to coordinate event dates,^[2] while guests can interact using emojis and GIFs.^[3] The platform supports payment collection through Venmo, Cash App,^[4] and PayPal,^[5] allows photo sharing, and includes a messaging feature for sending updates and reminders.^[4]

Thanks for your help, Lucas285 (talk) 15:39, 14 July 2025 (UTC)

Looks good to me. I added the section to the article. Frap (talk) 15:55, 30 July 2025 (UTC)

The controversial issue is a part of Partiful's history and should be mentioned in the article, but giving it its own section with so much detail is both WP:UNDUE and WP:CRITS. As a result, I suggest that the Controversy section be deleted and the following sentence be be moved to the history section:

Partiful's founders^[1] previously worked at Palantir Technologies,^[2] a data-analytics company that has been criticized due to its data-mining work for the CIA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).^[3]

Pinging Frap, who has been helpful with this article already. Thanks! Lucas285 (talk) 15:32, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

I agree with you so I made the suggested changes. Frap (talk) 17:10, 12 August 2025 (UTC)

I have some suggestions for adding additional information about the founding of the company and rearranging the history section in order to make the article more relevant and encyclopedic.

The new information has been highlighted, as has the information that has been rearranged within the article:

Partiful was founded in 2020 by Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy.^[1] Finding it hard to build community in her 20s as her friends migrated from Facebook to various social media platforms, Murthy envisioned a central online location for organizing events through texts instead of email. While Partiful launched as a website during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, by 2021 it started to gain followers.^[2]

The platform gained significant traction in 2022, securing $20 million in Series A funding.^[3] The service has seen significant adoption among Gen Z, millennials and startup founders, with the majority of users under the age of 30.^[4][5][6][7]

The company has claimed "millions" of active users by the end of 2023.^[2] Partiful expanded into iOS and Android apps in 2024, winning the award for Google's Best App of the Year that same year.^[8][9][10]

In October 2024, the Partiful website was used to circulate invitations to a Timothée Chalamet look-alike contest in Washington Square Park which generated over 2,500 RSVPs.^[11]

As of 2025, Partiful was used in over 100 counties.^[12]

Partiful's founders^[13] previously worked at Palantir Technologies,^[14] a data-analytics company that has been criticized due to its data-mining work for the CIA and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).^[15]

Thanks for your help.

Frap, I'm bringing this to your attention, as you have been helpful in the past. Lucas285 (talk) 16:39, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Alright, I've made the requested changes. Frap (talk) 16:51, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Frap, thanks for all your help! Lucas285 (talk) 14:43, 4 September 2025 (UTC)

The last line of the History section covers details about Palantir Technologies that are already on Palantir's page. Per WP:RELEVANCE, the mention of Palantir is only pertinent as it relates to the founders. I suggest removing the line and incorporating the reference into the first sentence of the section instead. I kindly suggest the following wording:

Partiful was founded in 2020 by Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy,^[1] who met while working at Palantir Technologies.^[2]

Thank you! Lucas285 (talk) 19:48, 17 September 2025 (UTC)

Done! Frap (talk) 14:19, 29 September 2025 (UTC)

I'm adding the promotional template to this article after the removal of references to public criticism and the addition of significant promotional copy paid for by Partiful. I'm not making the needed changes because I've probably publicly criticized the Partiful cofounders' background a bit too much to make these edits myself, but these are the omissions and errors glaring enough to justify the template:

Controversy: The Partiful associate's initial recommendation was that any reference to "criticism" be moved to a qualifier describing Palantir (it's since been removed completely), but this controversy specifically as it relates to Partiful has been cited in:

• The Cut: "Wait, Partiful’s Founders Worked at Palantir?"
• The Guardian: "the news dropped last summer that Partiful was founded by former Palantir employees," in "The Partiful app is a ‘vibey’ nightmare"
• The Wall Street Journal: "Shreya Murthy, founder of the event platform Partiful which is popular among Gen Z users, was recently criticized on social media for working at Palantir," in "The Palantir Mafia Behind Silicon Valley's Hottest Startups"
• Morning Brew YouTube episode: "Does gen Z’s favorite party planning app have a path to profit?"
• Slate podcast episode: "Is Partiful Cancelled?"
• TechCrunch, which invoked the controversy in explaining why they decided to test the app and discovered that "Event startup Partiful wasn't stripping GPS locations from user-uploaded photos."

History: Much of the "reliable source" press around Partiful has also served as promotional copy, and given WP:NOR restrictions, it makes sense to leave up the "2020" founding year. That said, it would be ideal to minimize any additional claims or mythologizing like that introduced in the Partiful-paid highlighted text:

• "Partiful launched as a website during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic": the cited article does not say this, likely because Partiful's social media history is full of links to the original getpartiful.com site the company used from its founding in 2019 until 2022; here's a 2019 Partiful Facebook post with site link.
• "Finding it hard to build community in her twenties as her friends migrated from Facebook to various social media platforms, Murthy envisioned...": there's no citation here, but it's likely referencing this WSJ article, which does at least make clear that this is the CEO's story about what happened. The company's social media history indicates that Partiful was not started as "a central online location for organizing events through texts," but rather a service package providing catering, drinks, supplies, etc. for house parties (see same 2019 post); if Wikipedia's reproducing the PR origin story, it's worth adding an introductory "Partiful's CEO says that."
• There are four sources cited for the "majority of users under the age of 30" claim, but the only one that speaks to it is the NYT article, which quotes Partiful's CEO as saying a "vast majority" of users are under 30. Similarweb.com's traffic estimates put 52% of partiful.com's website visitors under age 35, but there is no publicly-available data. Another startup has also filed a lawsuit in which they claim Partiful failed "to win the Gen Z market through fair competition" ("Social media startup Fizz sues Instacart and Partiful for trademark infringement over new Fizz app"). I think the most that can be said is that "Partiful's CEO claims the majority of Partiful's users are under the age of 30."

"Features" Section:

• This is self-evidently promotional and uses Partiful's own language (e.g., "text blasts") for promoting their product. Personally, I think it should be stripped along with all other copy contributed by Lucas285, who acknowledges being paid by Partiful.

NYCNoise (talk) 22:35, 19 October 2025 (UTC)