Key Takeaways
- This year, Match Group’s internet “hackathons” focused on how dating apps can help daters facilitate IRL connections.
- Hinge’s winning idea was “Hinge IRL,” which would give people who match on the app date ideas; Meetic’s winner was “Resonance,” an AI voice tool.
- The hackathons send a clear message to Match Group skeptics: The company is adapting to changes in the dating app industry, not succumbing to them.
Match Group is not allowing Gen Z’s dating app fatigue to stop it from making authentic connections.
On LinkedIn recently, Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff celebrated the success of Hinge and Meetic’s annual hackathons, which encouraged the dating apps’ teams to “come together to find new ways to get more people to form IRL connections.”
Rascoff’s forward-looking praise of the Match Group properties couldn’t come at a better time for the company, which recently announced layoffs of 13% of its workforce.
The industry may be struggling, but Match Group’s hackathons show rare ingenuity and optimism. And unsurprisingly, much of this optimism comes from the company’s warm embrace of AI technology.
Hinge IRL Wants to Help Users Take Matches Offline
Hinge’s hackathon had a specific theme — “Build, Improve, Explore” — that encouraged the development teams to push the boundaries of what a dating app can do in the offline world. Since today’s daters are increasingly interested in offline romance, Hinge’s winning team created “Hinge IRL.”
The idea behind Hinge IRL is deceptively simple: Hinge IRL would retain the user’s interests, location, and timing so it could provide accurate date opportunities and meetup spots once people are matched on the app.
A dating app encouraging people to make IRL connections may not appear to make sense, but that’s exactly what Hinge has done with Hinge IRL. Instead of discounting Gen Z’s desires, Hinge proved that it’s listening, and willing to build, improve, and explore new ways of meeting the needs of its consumers.
It’s not the first time Hinge has explored the world of offline dating. In March, Hinge put $1 million toward 100 IRL social groups and dating events in New York, Los Angeles, and London.
Hinge is basically saying, “People don’t want to meet on dating apps, but that doesn’t mean a dating app can’t still facilitate the types of connections people do want to make.”
“Resonance” Aims to Combine AI and Authenticity
The European dating service Meetic also proved that it’s listening to what the people desire. The winner of Meetic’s hackathon is “Resonance,” an AI solution to the superficiality of dating app messaging.
What makes “Resonance” a particularly bold idea is its use of AI voice technology, which would, as Rascoff put it, “capture a user’s energy, personality, and truth” so people can get a more well-rounded idea of who it is they matched with.
It seems to be a bit like Hinge’s voice prompts, but with an AI-enhanced flair. Rascoff added that the AI voice technology may even facilitate “micro-conversations” that can lead to deeper, more authentic connections.
Voice-based connections and audio features are a growing trend in the dating world, one that DatingNews’ op-ed writer Hayley Folk said can “bridge the ‘vibe gap’ between matching and meeting,” especially for daters with specific tastes. With this in mind, Meetic may be onto something with “Resonance.”
Hinge and Meetic’s exploration of offline connections sends a clear message to those who have doubted Match Group’s ability to weather the dating app downfall: “We’re not giving up that easily.”
After all, the best way to silence the doubters is with an undeniably good idea — or two. Or maybe even three; Rascoff announced that Tinder’s own hackathon will commence sometime this fall.
