Tinder and Bumble See Increased Activity During Pandemic
Contributed by: kellyseal on Monday, April 13 2020 @ 11:32 am
Last modified on Monday, April 13 2020 @ 11:48 am
Popular dating apps Tinder and Bumble have not seen a drop-off of users since the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic and people began isolating at home; in fact, user activity has spiked over the past few weeks.
Roughly 25 percent of Americans have been ordered to stay home and avoid gathering with others according to a report by CNBC[*1] . But dating app users aren’t letting this deter them – instead, they are opting for virtual dates as they work from home and isolate from others.
A report from Mother Jones[*2] said that from March 12-22, Bumble saw a 21% increase in messaging among Seattle users, one of the first cities affected by the growth and spread of the virus. Two other hot spots, New York and San Francisco, saw a 23% and 26% surge in messaging, respectively. A total of 87 million people use the app worldwide.
Tinder has also seen a spike in usage, reporting that the volume of messages among U.S. users during a week in mid-March was 10 to 15 percent higher each day compared to the week before. They also pointed out that countries which have become virus hot spots like Spain and Italy have seen increases up to 25 percent.
Bumble launched its live video chat feature last year, which has seen a 21% increase in activity over the past week alone. Dating app users are also turning to other video chat apps like Facetime, Zoom, and HouseParty to virtually chat with potential dates when they can’t livestream over a dating app like Tinder or Hinge. (These dating apps allow users to post video to their messages and profiles, but have no livestream features.)
So far, there are no plans to roll out a livestream feature for Tinder or Hinge, both owned by Match Group. However, Plenty of Fish (also owned by Match Group) recently partnered with The Meet Group technology service to offer its new livestream video feature which rolls out in March. If it’s successful perhaps it will be extended to the company’s suite of apps, especially as daters become accustomed to virtual dating.
There is also speculation that Facebook Dating could see a surge in new users, since its Messenger app is an integrated tool to allow users to live chat with each other, too. There’s no data on this currently.
Match Group has also rolled out a free “Dating While Distancing” hotline for its users that is staffed by its experts for twelve hours per day. And Tinder has just made its Passport feature free for users, so they can better connect during the pandemic.