Tinder announced this morning that it will begin testing video chat in its mobile dating app with some members in select global markets, including the United States, available to users in Virginia, Illinois, Georgia and Colorado in the USA as well as in Brazil, Australia, Spain, Italy, France, Vietnam, Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Peru and Chile, also with some members.
The parent company Match initially promised to introduce video chat in Tinder as part of its launch Earnings for the first quarter of 2020 report and praised the feature as a way for Tinder to develop its business in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The company then also detailed the impact of the pandemic on its app, which slowed the growth of Tinder users in the quarter when social distance requirements and government bans came into force.
Tinder ended the first quarter with 6 million subscribers compared to 5.9 million in December 2019 – meaning that only 100,000 paid subscribers were added in the quarter. For comparison: 384,000 paid users were added in the same quarter of the previous year. Tinder’s average revenue per user (ARPU) also only increased 2%, mainly due to the purchase of a la carte features rather than subscriptions.
Tinder says it tested videos at different times before the COVID 19 outbreak, but it never saw significant acceptance. However, the pandemic has changed things. Today, Tinder users can use the Passport feature to search for matches worldwide, making the dating app more like a social network. In the meantime, Tinder users who want to stay up to date almost feel compelled to use videos for their early interactions instead of “getting to know” shorter coffee or beverage dates as before.
Without a video option in the app, these users often turned to third-party apps like Snapchat or other video chat apps for these early connections. In the meantime, data that prioritized a video option may even have switched to rival Bumble, who did it offered Video for a year. Facebook recently announced that due to the coronavirus pandemic, it would add videos for its Facebook dating users and force Tinder’s hand.
Credit: Tinder
The new function itself is easy to use. Once two people match and chat in the app, they can tap the new video icon to show that they’re ready to switch to a video session. The clever part is that the function itself is only activated when both games are activated. The company notes that Tinder users are not notified when a game switches video chat. The idea is to wait until the discussion takes place naturally, as is often the case in text-based chat.
If both users have switched video chat, they must agree to the basic rules before the chat starts. Tinder says calls should remain “PG” with no nudity or sexual content. The chats are also supposed to stay “clean”, which means that there is no harassment, hate speech, violence or any other illegal activity. Users also agree that calls must be age-appropriate, ie without minors.
The feature that Tinder calls “face to face” is activated match by match, not universally for all matches.
How exactly Tinder plans to properly moderate a seemingly fantastic new advertising platform remains unclear. In addition, Tinder’s desire to engage in video may mean sex offenders are put in front of the camera. As a ProPublica investigation report last year It was found that most of Match’s own dating apps, including Tinder, were not looking for sexual predators.
According to Tinder, users are currently being asked to review the call when it is completed.
A pop-up asks users who end a video call whether they want to go face to face again. Here you also have the option to report the user if necessary. Of course, this type of retrospective rating system doesn’t do much for someone who feels insecure at the moment, and it’s unclear to what extent Tinder will intervene on ongoing police calls.
Asked for details, Tinder declined to share. (In an earlier reportElie Seidman, CEO of Tinder, suggested that Tinder would use machine learning models to monitor chats.)
It is also unclear to what extent Tinder would intervene to stop otherwise consensual sexual activity, including the paid variety.
However, Tinder doesn’t seem to be concerned about these off-brand video chat use cases. Around 5,000 members in the U.S. are said to have been surveyed recently, and around half of them had video data with an off-platform match last month, indicating willingness to try out videos for online dating. In addition, 40% of Gen Z members said they wanted to continue using video as a first step before agreeing to meet in real life, even when places like restaurants and bars reopened.
“Personal connectivity is more important than ever, and our video chat feature offers a new way to get to know the app regardless of its physical distance,” said Rory Kozoll, head of Trust and Safety Products at Tinder in a statement about the Begin. “Face to Face prioritizes control so that our members feel more comfortable doing the next step in chats when it feels right to them. We have created a solid foundation and look forward to learning from this test in the coming weeks, ”added Kozoll.
The function will only be tested in selected markets from today.