Bumble Explores Metaverse and Adds Language Badges to Profiles

Bumble announced that it is exploring how to employ the metaverse and Web 3.0 into a relaunch of its Bumble BFF platform. It also added language badges as a new feature to help users connect. 

The move towards interactive experiences seems to be where dating apps are headed, driven by younger Gen Z daters who prefer game-like experiences to swiping. Tinder recently announced that it was testing an avatar-based virtual experience called Single Town where users could meet each other in real time on different online spaces, like “bars” before agreeing to meet in person.

The rising popularity of cryptocurrency is also a factor, as Bumble has indicated it intends to create a crypto goods economy to monetize the new platform, as has Tinder.

CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd announced the new plans on an earnings call, though the details were scarce. According to The Block, the company posted a job listing for someone to “lead its cryptocurrency efforts.” And President Tariq Shaukat said the company was interested in how it could apply cryptocurrency in the realm of “community experience.”

“In the near term, this means new engagement, participation and creator models,” Wolfe Herd said of the platform relaunch. “But longer-term, it becomes a way for members to own their experience on Bumble. This could happen through the communities they build, the virtual goods and experiences they acquire, or through new ways of owning their identity as they navigate the metaverse.”

“We've got a couple of tests that we're very excited about that we will be rolling out in the upcoming months around this, but we think that's the first toehold there,” Shaukat said, according to The Block. 

In the meantime, Bumble also announced that it added language badges as an option for users to add to their profiles, so they can showcase what languages they speak and better connect with others. There are 100 language badges to its dating platform available globally, and The Mint pointed out that thirty of those languages are specific to Indian users, a target market for the company with many of its users between 18 and 29 years of age. 

According to Bumble, people who have added at least one language badge saw a 34 percent increase in matches compared to those who hadn’t. 

The move dating apps are making towards employing the metaverse coincides with Facebook’s recent name change to Meta, with a pivot to focusing on virtual worlds and experiences.