Bumble, the dating app that revolutionized online matchmaking with its “women make the first move” feature ten years ago, is now allowing men to initiate conversations. This new initiative called “opening moves”, allows women users on Bumble to set a prompt for male matches to respond and start a conversation. The previous rule requiring females to send out initial messages was intended to empower them in their dating lives, according to the company’s CEO Lidiane Jones who took over from founder Whitney Wolfe Herd earlier this year.
The new feature is part of Bumble’s larger relaunch announced on Tuesday by its newly appointed leader as online dating continues to gain popularity amidst growing demands for authentic human connections. Dating apps are striving hard to remain relevant in the face of burnout from some singles who prefer more real-life interactions, and Jones believes that this redesign will help Bumble meet these requirements while staying true to its original mission of empowering women.
The “opening moves” feature allows female users on Bumble an alternative – either continuing sending first messages or opting for setting opening moves that might inspire matches to reply with a message initiating conversation themselves. Non-binary and same gender matching options will also be allowed the privilege of selecting their preferred move. Other features included in this relaunch are updated “dating intentions” badges, which users can display on their profiles indicating whether they’re looking for companionship or something more serious like a life partner; mandatory inclusion of more images (at least two) for Bumble profiles, and prominent listing at the top of potential matches’ pages highlighting common interests.
Bumble is owned by parent company MagicLab which also runs dating apps such as Badoo and Fruitz. The app’s net loss in 2021 was $1.9 million whilst share price prices dipped alarmingly over eighty six per cent post initial public offering (IPO) last year, but Wall Street analysts predict a profit of around twelve million dollars for the first quarter this year as compared to its losses during Q1 2021 when it posted $2.3million in loss figures. Bumble’s paying user count is expected to go up by approximately fourteen per cent surpassing more than three and half million users.
Jones maintains that the company enjoys healthy financials, which allows them to invest further into growth whilst still delivering profitability for shareholders as they navigate this inflection point where there’s enough scale but also plenty of room left over for expansion ahead.
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