Issue #17: Bumble acquires Geneva
Bad timing for Geneva, but smart move for Bumble.
Hi everyone! Keeping it short and sweet today with a look into Bumble’s acquisition of social platform Geneva.
But first, some important follow-ups on last week’s topics:
The Swehl ad is back! Supplement brand Seed donated their ad space in Times Square to bring the ad back, with the addition of some pretty clever copy. SO happy to see it. I reached out to a couple of people at Seed to try to interview them about this move, but no one got back to me :/ (we’ll get there someday!)
Inclusive dating app Feeld responded to the Bumble celibacy ad by adding “celibacy” as an option for users in the “desire” section of their profile. They also pasted over Bumble’s “vow of celibacy” outdoor executions with their own messaging, encouraging you to “find your thing.” And earlier this week, influencer Harry Hill posted this in partnership with Feeld:
It’s a smart move in the wake of the Bumble backlash.
Speaking of Bumble (sorry, I’m giving them a lot of airtime as of late)... they announced earlier this week that they’ve acquired online platform Geneva. For anyone unfamiliar, Geneva is a social platform and group chat app. I’ve actually had really positive experiences on Geneva; I’ve made close friends and even met my therapist through the app. You can join groups around interests and hobbies, creators, podcasts, and more. Geneva feels slightly akin to Substack to me – it’s a largely positive, kind, healthy social platform.
I actually think this acquisition is a pretty smart move on Bumble’s part for a few reasons:
Geneva helps Bumble focus more on friendships
Gen Z wants to be part of strong online communities, and Geneva has them
Geneva’s communities host a lot of IRL events and meet-ups, which Gen Z is also into
We know that the dating app scene has been rough, so it makes sense to me that Bumble might want to invest in building their friendship platform. They currently have Bumble BFF (which is where I actually found one of my best friends, shout out
), but Geneva helps them expand this offering. I’m curious if they’ll end up combining the two platforms, or keep them separate… The press release makes it sound like they’re keeping Geneva’s platform but potentially integrating it with Bumble’s app? We’ll see!Plus, Geneva is a really community-centric platform. Rather than 1:1 direct outreach (like how Bumble BFF currently operates), Geneva groups are just group chats – anyone in the group can participate. They manage to keep the chats non-toxic (at least in my experience) with a strong filtration system and permission settings, where admins can review everyone who requests to join a group. Plus, many groups tend to be pretty close-knit around a certain topic or niche content creator, so you may not run the risk of random people joining. Quite the opposite of, say, Reddit…
Since these groups tend to be small, close-knit and specific, you do really feel like you’re part of a community on Geneva. A lot of groups also have in-person meet-ups, or people in the group will decide to meet up independently, so users have the opportunity to connect with people beyond the app. We know that Gen Z is looking for more authentic connection and community both within and outside of the digital space. By combining Geneva and Bumble, they can bring Geneva’s community-centered platform to Bumble’s strong user base.
Of course, there’s a little part of me that wonders if this announcement came last week because Bumble wanted to distract from the bad PR around the celibacy ad, but who knows… as one of my faves
said:If I were Geneva, I would have done everything in my power to push this announcement out a few more weeks since backlash around Bumble’s fumbled anti-feminist rebrand is still in the headlines.
That’s all for this week! And I promise to cover another brand that’s not Bumble next week. xoxo