Dating: Dating is done on video

Applying the possibilities of digital to dating apps doesn’t hold big surprises since their first experiments. In essence, it is a matter of inserting a personal biography and some images in your profile and then proposing or waiting for a match to occur, or mutual acceptance to begin conversing or meeting in person. Now, also thanks to the lockdowns imposed by the pandemic, things are changing and the use of video and audio is starting to take on more complex and interesting forms. Tinder, the largest dating app owned by Match Group, is pushing a game called Swipe Night and allows for interactive live dating where singles participate in solving a mystery. Users watch an episode, work together through Fast Chat to talk the story, analyze clues and solve the mystery trying to figure out who committed the crime. Bumble, on the other hand, has enhanced the Night In option which allows Canada and the USA to set up a real Trivial-style game / quiz to try to understand and reveal some aspects of one’s own and others’ personality. Users seem interested in using videos as a way to break the ice before seeing each other in person, and Tinder said almost all of its users had a video chat during the pandemic while 40% intend to continue having one even now that the people can meet in person. Companies are working towards this, developing new social modes and more interactive features: from audio chat on the Clubhouse genre to, as Bumble has in store, the ability to send images, voice notes and GIFs. Up to introducing videos into user profiles and new ways to discover people in a non-static way. Earlier this summer, Match concluded its $ 1.7 billion acquisition of Hyperconnect, a social networking company credited with creating the first mobile version of WebRTC that allows browsers to perform real-time the videochat. This could enable connected platform users with features such as live video chat and other video experiences via apps.