Bumble teases a swipe-free future as it doubles down on IRL meetups
Bumble teases a swipe-free future as it doubles down on IRL meetups
Bumble 预告“去滑动化”未来，加码线下社交
Tinder isn’t the only major dating app turning away from the swipe and toward real-world events to attract Gen Z users who’ve grown tired of traditional online dating. On Wednesday, Bumble touted the early success of its newest app, Plans, designed to connect people “IRL” in low-pressure group settings, and spoke of what comes next for Bumble’s flagship app after the “swipe” is dead.
Tinder 并不是唯一一家放弃“滑动”机制、转向线下活动以吸引厌倦了传统在线约会的 Z 世代用户的头部约会应用。周三，Bumble 宣扬了其最新应用 Plans 的早期成功。该应用旨在让人们在低压力的群体环境中进行“现实生活（IRL）”社交，并探讨了在“滑动”时代终结后，Bumble 旗舰应用未来的发展方向。
On its second-quarter earnings call with investors, Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd said Plans showed “promising results” in early tests over the past few months, and the company would “lean more into real-life experiences” going forward. Combined with Tinder’s news this week that it, too, is doubling down on in-person events, it’s clear there’s a major shift happening in online dating. Simply put, the swipe era is coming to an end.
在第二季度财报电话会议上，Bumble 首席执行官 Whitney Wolfe Herd 表示，Plans 在过去几个月的早期测试中表现出“令人鼓舞的结果”，公司未来将“更多地倾向于现实生活体验”。结合 Tinder 本周宣布同样加码线下活动的消息，显而易见，在线约会领域正在发生重大转变。简而言之，滑动时代即将终结。
“I am a firm believer that the future of meeting people in groups will become more important. People love to come together in groups and see who they naturally share chemistry with once they have met,” Wolfe Herd told analysts on the call. “Group socializing is a real part of how Gen Z prefers to meet, and we believe Bumble represents a natural bridge from meeting to socializing to then dating.”
“我坚信，未来通过群体方式结识他人将变得更加重要。人们喜欢以群体形式聚在一起，并在见面后观察彼此之间是否自然产生化学反应，”Wolfe Herd 在电话会议上告诉分析师。“群体社交是 Z 世代首选的社交方式之一，我们认为 Bumble 是从相识到社交，再到约会的天然桥梁。”
The company first experimented with real-world, platonic connections with Bumble BFF, an app for making friends, which has shown some traction with Gen Z women. With Plans, however, the idea is to give young people a way to meet up with others in their community to develop friendships over small group drinks and dinners at local spots, the company said when announcing the app last month. These meetups could later lead to deeper friendships or romantic connections, Bumble believes. By not being primarily focused on dating, it can take the pressure off these first-time encounters.
该公司此前曾通过 Bumble BFF（一款交友应用）尝试过现实生活中的柏拉图式社交，该应用在 Z 世代女性中已获得一定反响。然而，Bumble 上个月在发布 Plans 时表示，该应用的初衷是为年轻人提供一种方式，让他们通过在当地场所进行小规模聚餐或饮酒，与社区中的其他人建立友谊。Bumble 认为，这些聚会未来可能会促成更深厚的友谊或浪漫关系。由于不以约会为主要目的，这可以减轻初次见面的压力。
In addition, users on Plans can continue their chats on Bumble’s app without having to swipe or give out their phone number. In other words, Bumble is promoting “no swiping” as a plus here, suggesting that this format for finding matches is no longer desired among younger users.
此外，Plans 的用户可以在 Bumble 应用上继续聊天，而无需进行滑动操作或提供电话号码。换句话说，Bumble 在此将“无需滑动”作为一项优势进行推广，这表明年轻用户已不再青睐这种寻找匹配对象的方式。
Wolfe Herd also teased that Bumble is working on a new interaction model to replace the swipe entirely. “The core idea is a shift away from optimizing for swipe speed and velocity towards something more intentional, fewer, better, more considered signals,” she said, saying the shift to the “swipe-free” model would happen gradually so as not to disrupt the ecosystem.
Wolfe Herd 还透露，Bumble 正在开发一种全新的交互模式，以彻底取代滑动机制。“核心理念是从优化滑动速度和频率，转向更具意图性、更少、更好、更深思熟虑的信号，”她表示，向“去滑动化”模式的转变将逐步进行，以免破坏现有的生态系统。
“What will replace the swipe? I will be keeping under wraps a bit longer for competitive purposes, but it is designed to generate more immediate interactions and, most importantly, better outcomes, mimicking real life and eliminating the friction and delay that exists in [the] current dating app model,” she added.
“什么会取代滑动？出于竞争考虑，我暂时保密，但它的设计初衷是产生更直接的互动，最重要的是，带来更好的结果。它将模拟现实生活，消除当前约会应用模式中存在的摩擦和延迟，”她补充道。
The company also plans to leverage more AI tools under the hood to help deliver improved results, but cautioned this would not mean Bumble was becoming an “AI-driven experience.” Though Bumble beat on earnings in Q2, it’s still in a turnaround phase. The company’s revenue was down 15.2% to $210.5 million year-over-year, and its stock suffered over its Q3 forecast, which shows a decline in paying customers.
该公司还计划在后台利用更多 AI 工具来帮助提升效果，但同时也提醒称，这并不意味着 Bumble 将变成一种“AI 驱动的体验”。尽管 Bumble 第二季度财报表现超出预期，但仍处于转型期。公司营收同比下降 15.2% 至 2.105 亿美元，且由于第三季度预测显示付费用户数量有所下降，其股价受到冲击。