The future of Match dating apps, Bumble is much more social

Dating apps have been running the same model for years – users post a handful of images and fill out a biography. For the most part, people look at these profiles and slide left to deny or right to express interest. If two people slide to the right, they match and could end up on a date.

But now that is changing.

The pandemic has caused a level of disruption that has allowed companies to consider what the future of dating apps might look like without taking a meaningless look.

Look at Bumble, for example, which has a “Night In” trivia option. The feature allows users to set a virtual trivia date if they match someone. It also allows users to send voice memos to matches, a feature that went viral on TikTok earlier this year.

And Tinder, Match Group’s largest dating app, has “Swipe Night,” a live interactive dating feature where singles follow a story together. For a certain period of time, people try to find out who committed the invented crime. At the end of each episode, members work with another participant through “Quick Chat,” where they can talk about the story, analyze different clues, and help solve the mystery together. Later they can also choose to match.

Adding videos and audio will allow people to interact in a way not yet done with online dating, hoping to spend more time on apps (bringing in more money) and forming better connections than they can attract more people online.

Companies have hinted that there is more to come in terms of more interactive social elements and features, but have not said exactly what is on their product roadmaps. Potential features may include a Clubhouse-type audio chat or more ways to integrate friends into the experience.

“While swiping left and right has significantly changed the way individuals connect, we believe users want more control over this experience,” Citi senior analyst told CNBC. Nicholas Jones, by email. “To maintain a healthy and committed network, BMBL will need to continue to innovate to provide users with the experience they are looking for.”

Users have made it clear that they are interested in meeting about the video as a way to break the ice or check the “vibrations” of a date before seeing them in person. Tinder said almost all of the users had a video chat with a party during the pandemic, while 40% planned to continue using video even when the pandemic was over.

Bumble said that by coming out of the pandemic, people have “much more clarity” with what they are looking for in a relationship.

“We’re really trying to give them the tools they need to do that and improve the experience for the most serious and intentional types of relationships our users talk about,” Bumble president Tariq Shaukat said in the earnings call most recent of the company. “So a lot of what we’ve done in both the second quarter and the plan for the third quarter and the fourth quarter is really focused on activities like this, in addition to new monetization functions.”

Bumble, as mentioned, has Night In and the option to send things like images, voice notes and GIFs to parties. But the company could introduce things like video into user profiles or new ways to discover users outside of sliding right and left.

Tinder also added videos to the app and announced a “discover” section that mimics social media feeds. Users can see potential matches that share similar interests with them, such as if someone has pets or is engaged in skydiving.

Tinder said the changes are an effort to give Gen Z users what they want.

“Generation Z uses Tinder on its terms; biographies alone don’t always tell the story enough to reach a Like or a Nope,” the company said in June. Tinder is focused on the moment someone is ready to swipe left or right toward another user, CEO Jim Lanzone later told CNBC.

“This is a really rich area of ​​innovation,” he said. “That’s the beginning of something.”

Lanzone joined Tinder last year after directing CBS Interactive, where he developed the company’s drive toward streaming. The hiring of the executive was a clear indication that Tinder wants to introduce more into the video. But this time, he said, he focused on making connections, not entertainment.

“Tinder is likely to be the first generator of new relationships in the country, and probably also of marriages, in addition to all the other connections we make. And that can’t always be decided on the fly just from someone’s photo. or the biography, though important, and Tinder was obviously a pioneer in moving the category that way, ”Lanzone added. “But we have this very rich roadmap now, probably years of innovation.”

The parent company of Tinder is also making broader moves. Earlier this summer, Match closed the $ 1.7 billion acquisition of Hyperconnect, a social media company that is credited with creating the “first mobile version” of WebRTC. This will allow the company to focus on its research and development, adding more live chat features and video experiences to its applications.

The party’s COO, Gary Swidler, said in the company’s most recent profit call that it expects at least two of its brands to use Hyperconnect technology before the end of the year, while other brands will implement their technology by the end of the year. of 2022. The company has not detailed exactly what the additions would look like, but may include things like live streaming or even more chat additions.

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