While Bumble may not be the most innovative, the most popular, or the most successful dating app out there, it will soon be moving into uncharted territory. If you’re not familiar with Bumble, it’s founded on a “ladies first” mentality. When two people like each other’s profiles they are matched. Once they are matched, it is the woman’s responsibility to send the first message. In the case of same-sex couples, the app functions as any other run-of-the-mill dating app. On October 18th, popular dating app Bumble released its latest venture: Bumble Bizz. Through this new development, Bumble will allow you to meet more professional connections. That’s right, a dating app will soon be occupying a similar market space to the professional social media giant LinkedIn. Soon enough, you will be able to find love and network with potential connections all through the same app.
With one of the frontrunners in love connection diversifying their portfolio in this way, it’s interesting to think about how, perhaps, other apps may follow suit. What could happen if other apps started to branch out? Let me give you some food for thought.
LinkedUp
When looking for potential networking matches, it could be advantageous to also have a romantic match! Since Bumble is taking their business toward LinkedIn, who’s to say that LinkedIn couldn’t try the exact opposite? For that idea, I present to you LinkedUp.
In all honesty, a lot of the foundations of LinkedIn could be useful to the new business venture. A potential connection views your profile, and you receive notification about it, which sounds like the great beginnings of a dating app to me. It could match people based upon their skills, filtering people in and out based upon their special abilities and certifications. Always wanted to date a mortician? Go ahead and search by users with certification through the American Board of Funeral Service Education. Looking for someone who has at least basic Microsoft Office skills? Looks like your dating pool just got a heck of a lot bigger.
FarmhandsOnly
Are you a farmer searching for potential assistance in gathering your crops? Sounds like FarmhandsOnly could be your best bet! FarmersOnly is a dating site that is wildly popular in an ironic sense because of its oddly-specific target audience, but it could be a great launching-point for an even wider audience.
The benefits of FarmhandsOnly could be two-fold. For farmers, this app could be a great opportunity to increase their community networking connections. For farmhands, this could be their opportunity to gain working experience and really hone their skills. Opportunities could range anywhere from a one-day harvest to a semi-permanent contract.
Gigstagram
Any developing artist is always searching for opportunities to perform or present. By sharing pictures or videos of your work, potential supporters, venues, or galleries could get a taste of your artwork.
The experience could be tailored to your individual medium. If you’re more interested in the music scene, you could showcase your talents before going to the big open mic night. It could also be utilized to bring other musicians together. If your band is looking for a bassist, you can use Gigstagram to connect with local musicians to fill that gap. If you’re more interested in the visual arts, you could use your Gigstagram feed to show off your best work. With the implementation of a monetary exchange system, you could even use the app to get people to purchase your work
In a future that is more often viewed through a screen, it’s important to create connections, whether that’s facilitated by the use of apps or not. It’s best to embrace the future as it comes. Bumble is doing their best to ensure a lasting future for themselves as a company, and while it seems a little odd, maybe it won’t be all that bad after all.
Do you think that Bumble Bizz (or any of my ideas) will be successful? Is there enough room for LinkedIn and Bumble Bizz to share the networking social media space? Only time will tell.