New Dating Apps Focusing on In-Person Events
Contributed by: kellyseal on Monday, April 04 2022 @ 09:34 am
Last modified on Monday, April 04 2022 @ 09:44 am
New dating apps like Thursday and POM are focusing their efforts on pandemic-weary singles ready to connect via in-person events.
According to a profile of the apps in Business Insider, the apps’ founders saw opportunity as singles grew tired of virtual dating during pandemic lockdowns. As restrictions are starting to lift across the globe, singles are eager to mingle in person again, which is providing new opportunities.
London and New York have both become test cities for Thursday’s events, according to Business Insider[*1] . The app has been hosting events in these locations, up to 15 per week that are surpassing venue capacity. This might change in the coming weeks with the latest Omicron surge, but so far it hasn’t slowed the company down.
During lockdowns, “people had saturated Hinge, Tinder, Bumble," Matthew Love, CEO of Thursday, told Business Insider. "It's kind of gone back to the old school way where people don't want to be online and glued to their phones," he said. "They want to be experiencing something in real life."
Dating app POM (Power of Music) connects people via their love of music, which makes a good staging ground for in-person events. It allows users to connect their Spotify or Apple Music accounts to start conversations with each other. The company plans to host one event a week in London based on what music is popular for a particular area of users. The app is still young but has 100,000 downloads already.
Dating apps like Tinder, Bumble and Hinge won’t be going away anytime soon, however. They had their best quarters over the past two years as they pivoted and launched more virtual and interactive features so people could video date over the apps. Tinder has added an interactive section called “Explore” where people can speed date, chat instantly, or watch their original content series Swipe Night together, among other activities, and it seems to be taking off.
Notably, Tinder and Bumble are leaning more into the virtual experience and will be introducing the metaverse into their apps so people can date using their avatars in creative online spaces.
On the flip side, Thursday believes the desire for in-person events is only growing. The company told Business Insider that it’s flooded with messages in its social media accounts to create events in other cities, though for now, it is focused on New York and London. They plan to take events to more cities in the U.S., however they are first testing out different types of events in London to see what works.