Buzz, buzz, buzz. Looks like there is a new app on the market, and it is taking your school out of the hive! If you are a Tinder lover, but hate being hit on by guys you accidentally swipe right for, or creeped out by the boy who won’t stop messaging you pick up lines (even though you haven’t replied), meet Bumble, the new app for online dating!
Ironically enough, Whitney Wolfe, the creator of Bumble and also a Tinder co-founder, left Tinder to sue the company’s CMO -- her ex-boyfriend -- on the basis of sexual harassment. Talk about being creepy, and hindsight for the faults in Tinder. After being forced out of the company, Wolfe gathered over $1 million, and as a nice "get lost" gesture to her ex, Wolfe got the ultimate revenge: she created a competitor. You go, girl.
But what does this mean for us? Is this an end of Tinder? No. It is the beginning of a revolution -- taking girl power to another level.
The app is essentially the same thing as Tinder from the outside, with profiles set up the same way, pictures and a short bio, matching people from the surrounding areas. Bumble looks like a yellow Tinder. But here is where it gets interesting: once matched, only girls can make the first move. The girl has 24 hours to message the guy. If she is not into it, the match disappears forever. Gone --the boy you accidentally swiped,who is in your English class and now has the reminder of your accidental finger swipe. And if you run out of time, and 24 hours wasn’t enough to decide if the person is worth it, each person can extend the connection for an additional 24 hours for the girl to make another attempt at the first move. With same-sex matches, either person can reach out first. Talk about female empowerment.
This is our generation’s revolution. Girls don’t need to be nervous or self-conscious about making the first move. Boys don’t need to be creepy over an app because it holds mystery. Now, guys want the girls to reach out to them. It is in our hands to make the first move.
While Bumble is relatively new, only having been launched in December, it has had about 100,000 downloads in a month, already better than Tinder’s initial launch. The change is coming. It’s now. It’s buzzing.
If you want to find your next bae on Bumble, start buzzing and check out the hype!
(Thank you to Anna Kirshner, Bumble representative at Penn State, for help with this article)
