Bumble’s Acquisition of Geneva: Perfect Timing?
By this point I am sure everyone has seen Bumble’s controversial billboards. (If you haven’t we have attached pictures below.) For those who don’t know, Bumble has decided to rebrand themselves and do a relaunch. The whole idea is that girls are tired of all the crap we put up with while dating…which in theory sounds good based on Bumble’s original mission.
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Bumble was founded by Whitney Wolf Herd but as of January of this year, Lidiane Jones is the new CEO. Bumble was founded based on the principle that girls message first. It was created as a safe space for women in dating. There have been many evolvements such as immediate reporting/sensoring of explicit photos that keep the space safe for women. There is also a BumbleBFF mode in which you can make long lasting friendships, find roommates, etc.
This new rebrand has turned Bumble into every other dating app. The biggest change: women aren’t required to be the ones to start the conversation. Female users can set prompts, in which males will respond to to initiate conversation, very similarly to another popular dating app; Hinge. There is now also a dating intentions section of your profile to indicate what type of relationship you’re looking for. This was already a setting on Bumble, but the new update has made it more specific so that you can find exactly what you need. Along with the requirement of adding more photos, things you have in common will be highlighted on the top of your prospects profile while swiping.
While overall a lot of these updates sound great, the promotion of them is not. Bumble has gone about calling this their “Sleepy Girl Relaunch.” They have had ambassadors post and flyer based on this new idea, as well as having billboards and social media ads. These ads have gotten a lot of negative feedback to which Jones has responded to. They have chosen to go off of the aspect of celibacy to promote this new relaunch. Obviously in this day and age, this did not go over well. Women are celibate for a variety of different reasons, and thats OK! It’s your body girl, you do whatever tf you want with it. Bumble has since pulled the ads. Along with this their ambassador program has come to an early end for the school year.
This week, Bumble has announced that they will be acquiring another popular connection app: Geneva. Geneva is a free social networking app where companies and individuals can build communities and meet others with similar interests. It is “the online place to find your offline people.” Think of it like slack, but you get to join your favorite brands. This acquisition is predicted to be finalized by Q3 of 2024. While we know that things like this don’t just happen overnight, we can’t help but wonder if this announcement is a huge PR move. Many people on socials have been discussing boycotting or deleting the app after their recent campaign. The response to Bumble’s apology has not been well received either, with the main feedback being that it is simply textbook. Bumble has claimed that the marriage of these two apps is that their “friendship experience will evolve to help people discover and find groups of friends online to build connections offline.” Bumble has proven that they do genuinely care about their consumers and creating bonds with them, but we think the main connection being built right now is with Lidiane Jones’ PR agent. We are not quite sure what this new update will mean for BumbleBFF or Geneva’s current layout just yet. This will be Bumble Inc.’s 5th app, in addition to their BFF and Bizz mode.
You can read Bumble’s full statement about the acquisition HERE.
