Dating, Friendship or Something In Between? How Young Brits Are Changing Social Apps

For years, dating apps have been built around a fairly simple assumption: people open them because they want a date.  But new data from Bfriendz suggests things may be getting a little less clear-cut, particularly among younger users. 

Among Bfriendz users in the UK, 49% choose Dating as their main intention, while 27% select “Let’s See” and 24% choose Friendship. Combined, that means 51% are using the app without explicitly saying that dating is their main goal.

And it is predominantly a young audience: 69% of Bfriendz users in the UK are aged between 18 and 30.

Meeting someone without deciding what it is first

The numbers point to something that will probably feel familiar to anyone who has used dating apps recently.

Sometimes you want a date. Sometimes you want new friends.  Sometimes you just want to meet someone and not have to decide what it is straight away. That feels especially true when you’ve just moved, started a new job, or realised that getting your usual friends in the same place now takes about three weeks of planning.

This is the gap that dating and friendship app Bfriendz is trying to address.

Rather than beginning with endless profiles and conversations, Bfriendz revolves around actual plans. Users post things they want to do — coffee, drinks, a gig, an exhibition, a walk, a workout or something more spontaneous — and other people nearby can join them. If both people are interested, they can chat and make the plan happen.

The plan comes first It’s a small shift, but it changes the whole feel of it. You’re not matching first and then spending days trying to invent a conversation or a plan — there’s already something to meet for.

A plan can also take some of the pressure out of a first meeting. A coffee date in Shoreditch can simply be coffee. If you get on, you stay longer or go somewhere else. If you do not, nobody has committed to an elaborate evening with a stranger.

The same applies to friendship. Finding somebody who wants to go to the same exhibition, pub quiz or Sunday market can be easier than trying to manufacture a new friendship through small talk alone.

Dating, friendship — or just seeing what happens

Perhaps the most interesting part of the Bfriendz data is the popularity of “Let’s See”.

More than one in four UK users choose it.

Dating apps don’t always leave much room for that. Sometimes you’re open to meeting someone, but you don’t want to decide what it is before you’ve even had a conversation.

Mary Davies, Community Manager at Bfriendz, says:

“I’m going to this, fancy coming? That’s how a lot of friendships and relationships actually start. People already know what they want to do — the difficult part is often finding somebody nearby who wants to do it too.”

For a generation accustomed to doing almost everything through their phones, the end goal may increasingly be something surprisingly simple: getting off the app and actually doing something together.

Bfriendz is currently available across the UK for people looking for dating, friendship and everything in between.