Contributed by: kellyseal on Friday, May 09 2025 @ 05:31 pm
Last modified on Friday, May 09 2025 @ 05:52 pm
Dating app Hinge announced that it is adding a $1 million fund for in-person events and social group gatherings in New York, Los Angeles, and London.
According to CNBC, the money is to subsidize free or lower cost events to attract young people. The fund is part of their One More Hour social impact initiative which the company launched last year. Hinge says it recognizes Gen Z’s need for more tangible ways to connect than just over a dating app, and wants to create more spaces for them to get together.
The groups will focus on a range of activities that include food, nature, and reading, for example. The purpose of the groups is to highlight an interest to attract people and give them something to do while they are meeting other people, taking the pressure off.
Hinge’s One More Hour[*1] was launched after studies pointed to the epidemic of loneliness among Gen Z singles. This younger generation of daters grew up with Smart Phones and came of age during the pandemic lockdowns and the transition of working in offices to working remotely, which has crippled their ability to connect in person. It’s interesting that Hinge, a dating app that relies on users to spend time online, is looking to change things.
Jackie Jantos, president and chief marketing officer at Hinge, told CNBC[*2] : “This generation [Gen Z] grew up in a period where their core, late teenage years, and early 20s, were spent in a lockdown pandemic situation.”
A recent poll from Meta-Gallup called “The State of Social Connections” surveyed 1,000 people ages 15 and up from 142 countries, and found that young people ages 19 to 29 felt lonelier than older adults, according to CNBC.
The move also comes at a time when studies show that Gen Z is getting burned out from dating apps, and popular dating app companies like Tinder and Bumble are seeing their userbases and revenue decline for the first time. A 2024 report from Ofcom in the UK found that Tinder, Hinge and Bumble all lost users between May 2023 and May 2024, with Tinder losing almost 600,000 users.
The desire to meet people and connect is still there – but Gen Z isn’t attracted to the dating app platforms like millennials have been in previous years. Instead, they are seeking out in-person experiences.
Jantos went on to say: “Technology plays such a huge role in our lives, and so a lot of the work that we’re doing through these One More Hour groups is encouraging people to come together, and we do it in a way where we want to lower the barrier for people coming into the room,” she said.