Amorous entanglements aren't uppermost in the minds of many people emerging from long periods of pandemic isolation. Instead, they crave the friendships and social groups they have been starved of over the past year.
That's the verdict of dating apps such as Tinder and Bumble, which are launching or acquiring new services focused entirely on making and maintaining friends. Her company is investing in its Bumble BFF best friends forever feature, which it said comprised about nine per cent of Bumble's total monthly active users in September and "has room to grow as we increase our focus on this space".
Meanwhile its archrival Match Group - owner of a string of apps including Tinder and Hinge - is also pushing beyond love and lust. Hyperconnect's revenue jumped 50 per cent last year, while Meetup, which helps you meet people with similar interests at local or online events, has seen a 22 per cent rise in new members since January. Such friendship services have experienced increased engagement from users since Covid restrictions have gradually been lifted around the world, allowing people to meet in person, according to Evercore analyst Shweta Kharjuria, who said that it made sound business sense to court more customers.
Rosie, a year-old dental nurse living in the city of Bristol in southwestern England, struggled to connect with her older co-workers during lockdown and began using Bumble BFF three weeks ago to meet new people. Nupur, a year-old teacher from the city of Pune in western India who uses both Tinder and Bumble, said the apps' efforts to promote themselves as a way of finding friends rather than just hook-ups and love "could work very well".
Indeed, friend-making networks such as MeetMe and Yubo have even outstripped some popular dating apps in terms of daily engagement over the past few months, according to market research firm Apptopia. Jess Carbino, an online dating expert and former sociologist for Tinder and Bumble, told Reuters that social isolation had been "staggering" due to the pandemic, particularly for single people living alone.
