Education
Virtual dating is booming, but it isn't enough for daters
Why would you push the button? All about virtual dating in 2020 is back for a special episode. The pandemic has forced many people to stay at home, meaning online dating had to move. For this episode, Kaitlyn Tiffany and I talk about how they adapt to virtual-only dating with online daters and Bumble's VP of Strategy. After social distancing and the pandemic end, they try to figure out what, if any, features and behaviors will stick around.
Over recent months, dating apps have leaned to virtual dates. Tinder launches video calls and adds a Global Mode feature that lets you match people around the world. Hinge launched a virtual dating badge that users can upload to their profiles to indicate that they are down for a virtual date, and Bumble also expanded how far away people can match and made it possible to upload audio notes to the app. Bumble already had video calling available in the app, and its use during the pandemic predictably skyrocketed.
"We have seen an 84% increase in video calls between users," says Priti Joshi, VP of strategy at Bumble. "And what we hear from our customers is that this is simply a way for them to communicate securely, since they can't really communicate IRL right now."
Bumble says that, for example , video calls lasted an average of 28 minutes during the last week of April. People talk longer and try to make video call dates more similar to the dates they would have in person.
Even, daters admit they 're not impressed with all the virtual dates they have to sell. Listen to the episode above to hear from the three daters discussing their virtual dating experiences and the features they plan to stick around. As always, you can sign up for the show anywhere you usually get your podcasts. But here are the usual places to make it easier: Apple Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and our RSS feed.
