19
votes
A new service is trying to fight California's loneliness epidemic
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- Title
- Calif. resident connected 150 strangers. Now she's a friendship matchmaker.
- Authors
- Tessa McLean
- Published
- Mar 21 2024
- Word count
- 1245 words
My girlfriend made a good friend off of Bumble BFF after moving to a new city, albeit after multiple other failed attempts through the same app.
I personally used a short-lived app, Party With a Local, that had a brief heyday in NYC. The concept was for tourists who wanted to be guided to more authentic bars by someone willing to explore and provide conversation. I’ve only made a single long-term friend out of the dozens of people I met on that app, though.
I definitely think there’s a market for a matching service for hanging out in-person, but there’s definitely a similar dynamic to dating where you may not vibe with the stranger once you finally meet them.
Pre-pandemic I attended Meetups (the company) with a friend but they tended to attract the more socially inept, which made for awkward conversations. During the pandemic I had considered doing an NYC Reddit meetup, but got scared away by friends alluding to stereotypes of the “average redditor.” Industry networking events usually had more socially capable participants, but they were also a little too much Type A go-getters who use you for their career/LinkedIn rather than seeking real connections. At least the booze tends to be free at those events :)
If I had to design an app/service suited for the type of friend-seeking that the article is about, I think I would try to pair groups of 3-4 to enable better chances of a connection being made (and to save the awkwardness of two people reaching a lull in conversation). I’d also make the service take care of the event organization by suggesting a venue & time based on previously provided availabilities and geographic preferences(à la Bounce. Throw in some conversation starters (à la Omegle, RIP) and it should be enough to get most people engaged.
California is full of people who are from somewhere else and the cities are not especially friendly... Also I have friends who have moved elsewhere for economic reasons.
I've never used dating apps but have used Bumble BFF recently and met a couple of people on there. I'd have to look into the specifics of this service but it sounds promising and I could see myself using it. I don't know if it would be better, but I find Bumble BFF doesn't really deliver. Unless people put work into their profiles (most don't) you don't have much to go on except a photo or two and a few tags. I don't care about looks when it comes to making friends or hanging out with other people. It sometimes feels like a dating app that's been retrofitted to cater to an underserved market but doesn't really do the job very well.