With dating apps experiencing a downturn across the board, one of the more distinctive of the bunch is making a change with an eye towards reversing the trend.
Bumble differs from the pack by only allowing women to make the first move when it comes to making contact with a potential match. But now, the app will give men a chance to do a little more than just swipe and hope they receive a message before the 24-hour time limit expires.
The update will allow women to add a question to their profiles that allows men to provide an answer, a move that could help them stand out from the other potential matches while still allowing women to be the one who triggers an actual conversation.
“I think Bumble is interesting because, you know, when it first came out, that promise of the women messaging first was kind of interesting and unique,” professor Kathryn Coduto told KCBS. “And then people kind of realized, well, it still feels like maybe the other apps.”
Coduto studies dating apps for the media sciences department at Boston University. She said that the concept of Bumble isn’t novel enough to make it stand head and shoulders above the pack.
“I think that initial promise of what the brand had offered, this idea of empowering women who had said that they had largely had negative experiences on the different apps, I think that was really smart,” Coduto said. “I think what they have had happen is that they are just, again, part of this larger dating app economy. And so when I interview or survey people who are online daters, most of them are using, you know, 3 or 4 different apps.”
Not only is the dating app marketplace crowded, it’s also dealing with renewed post-pandemic competition from people actually meeting each other in social settings, as opposed to needing an app to aid them while sitting in isolation.
“I have research that shows people in 2020, throughout that whole year were feeling much more open to using dating apps,” Coduto said. “You know, they were sitting at home, they felt like they could kind of commit the time to maybe building their profiles, getting to know people. And then as Covid has kind of waned and people aren't in lockdowns anymore, there's a shift away from screens overall.”
To hear the full interview with Coduto, click the link below.