Marketing

Bumble is testing a new speed dating feature in the U.K. to see how effective it is in getting users to engage with each other over the app.

According to Tech Crunch, the company has been alerting U.K. users to a specific date and time when the virtual speed dating event happens, so they can choose to join. When they do, they are not shown their dates’ photos up front – instead, they briefly chat before photos are revealed.

Tech Crunch did share how the feature worked, and that it’s being presented as a game rather than an event (referring to attendees as “players” who click a “play game” button to start). Participants must agree to some rules (similar to Facebook’s speed dating app Sparked), where they are asked to “keep it respectful” before they can play. They also must agree to not ask about their date’s looks – the reveal comes later, after the two have decided there’s a connection. Each couple is given three minutes to chat before they can see each other’s photos.

The Right Stuff, a conservative dating app backed by investor Peter Thiel, launched in late September and has already been met with controversy. More than one quarter of users give it a one-star rating, with many complaining about the lack of women using the app despite the female-focused marketing campaign.

The campaign featured several women professing to want a conservative man with their same conservative values. However, the people joining for the most part seem to be middle-aged men, and they are not finding a lot of choice when it comes to swiping. Another reason for the lack of people on the app could be its invite-only premise. New users can only join if invited by an existing member.

According to Gizmodo, January 6th is also sparking some controversy for the app, with some users posting that FBI agents have come after them after they’ve shared that they attended the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. The Right Stuff asks users to respond to a series of prompts when setting up their profile so matches get to know them, and one prompt says “January 6th was…” which is open-ended enough for people to write and potentially incriminate themselves.

Dating app Hinge is targeting Gen Z daters with new video and polling features which are popular tools on social media apps.

Video Prompts and Prompt Polls help users strike up conversations in a more organic and playful way. Gen Z daters are looking for something more engaging than swiping, so Hinge and other dating apps are turning to game-like and video features to entertain and draw them in.

A video feature already exists in the Hinge app, but with Video Prompts, users are limited to recording within the app instead of posting something from their camera rolls, making for a more spontaneous and less polished introduction. Hinge says that this “encourages a filterless and authentic interaction between users,” according to Tech Crunch.

Dating app Bumble wants to extend its platform beyond dating and into social networking and virtual friendships through a new community feature – now dubbed “Hive.”

Hive is currently being tested, the company revealed in a recent earnings call with investors. While the company’s revenue projections have been lowered through the end of the year in part due to the app being pulled from Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine, it is moving ahead on development projects.

Social networking has become an important part of Bumble’s growth strategy. Hive is in essence a revamping of its Bumble BFF friend-finding feature, and will offer things like group chat, polls and video calls to help people better connect over the app, according to Tech Crunch. The article pointed out that Hive focuses on helping people find “platonic connections through small communities.” In other words, Bumble is focusing on making the feature community-driven where people can drop in and out of conversations depending on their shared interests. 

New dating app Desti puts TikTok-style videos front and center, with a focus on local places to meet up IRL.

Desti is short for “destination,” and the app gives users a chance to match with others based on preferred date destinations. When scrolling through the app, users see videos of venues with the poster’s profile in the corner, according to Tech Crunch.

“We decided to bet on short-form video being the future,” Nick Dominguez, COO and lead designer/developer of Desti said in an interview with TechCrunch.

Match Group is making changes to its executive team and pausing its metaverse plans on the heels of a disappointing second quarter earnings report. Its stock fell 20 percent after the earnings call with investors.

According to reports, Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg is exiting after less than a year at the helm of the app. Bernard Kim, the new Match Group CEO following Shar Dubey’s exit two months ago, wrote this as explanation in his letter to shareholders: “Tinder’s current revenue growth expectations for the second half of the year are below our original expectations as a result of disappointing execution. We need to do more to excite our user base.”

Kim also announced a new COO, chief product officer, chief marketing officer, and chief technology officer according to Gizmodo, promoted from other parts of the company.