Badoo Attempts to End Ghosting by Testing New Feature

Badoo announced that it is testing a new feature which looks to to combat the issue of ghosting on its dating platform.

Ghosting describes the act of one person ignoring someone else’s messages without any explanation. The act happens particularly often on online dating sites; a 2016 survey from Plenty of Fish found that 78% of millennials have been ghosted at some point.

The new update on Badoo prompts users to send a message if they have gone three days without replying to one of their matches.

They will receive a notification saying “Badoo’s a ghost-free zone, so say hello!”, and will be given pre-written responses to continue the conversation.

There are also options for a user to let their match down gently by telling them they’re no longer interested, or ask them if they are free to meet up.

67% of Cosmopolitan readers said they like the look of the new feature and would be open to using it.

However, some people don’t think it will change anything, as the reasons for ghosting someone usually goes deeper than not knowing what to say.

A policy analyst called Alice told Huffington Post: “I think ghosting comes as a result of seeing people on dating apps as disposable, which is a mentality that these apps themselves encourage and fuel.

“We ghost people on apps because we’ll never have to deal with the awkwardness or confrontation.”

Other dating apps have tried to tackle ghosting in the past. Hinge introduced a feature called ‘Your Turn’ which let users send a notification to their match if they hadn’t received a response to a message. 

Similarly, The League added read receipts for premium members to add a level of accountability for someone who is ghosting. 

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