Bumble hired journalist and author Kate Leaver to act as a ‘ghosting expert’ for it’s two-day ‘Don’t Get Ghosted’ campaign.
The social app used Halloween as an opportunity to raise awareness about the effects that ghosting can have on a person.
Ghosting describes the act of ending a relationship very abruptly and without explanation, and is very prevalent on dating apps.
Leaver was talking to Bumble users about their experiences of ghosting after they’d swiped right on a special profile in the app. She was also listening stories to stories that were submitted via Twitter and Instagram.
On October 30th, she was interviewed by Anna Foster on BBC Radio 5 Live to promote the awareness campaign.
Leaver said: “The main reason we’re doing this is because we believe that people don’t know how to end relationships properly – we’re encouraging traditional Bumble values of respect and kindness.
“The kind of advice I’ll be giving includes things like learn how to break up with someone kindly, learn how to have a breakup conversation in a generous and diligent way – and really encourage people to have the difficult conversation they tend to shy away from.”
She also explained that when someone is ghosted on multiple occasions it can make them question their self-worth or make them feel unlovable.
Badoo also took advantage of the time of year and released an anti-ghosting feature which prompted users to reply to a match if they hadn’t sent a message in three days.
However, both The Guardian and Vice criticised dating apps that were trying to tackle ghosting, suggesting that they were just ploys to try and drive engagement.
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