约会软件Tinder谋求转型

    如今，Tinder正试图增添新的功能以改变那种形象。首先，其最新的升级包括Matchmaker。它使用户通过个人简介与好友实现连接，然后他们可以在应用内聊天。虽然它可以用来欺骗别人的感情，但Tinder希望它也能用于谈情说爱以外的目的。不久后的另一个更新将提供约会交友部分的复制版，但却是以商务的名义。用户还会继续看到照片，但他们评价的是那个人是否提供了具有吸引力的商务联系。因此，用户会看到那个人的照片，以及有关其工作背景的简要介绍。他有可能是麦肯锡（McKinsey）的咨询师。点击他的照片就会出现关于他工作经历的更多介绍。

    雷德坚称，他并不把Tinder堪称约会应用，从来都没有这样想过。他说，这款应用的长期愿景始终是，“让你用Tinder来找到陌生人，不管是出于什么目的”。他知道有些人对Tinder的看法，但他认为，这款应用是什么完全取决于用户用它来干什么。“有的人只想找性伴侣，有的人则有意无意地想找个老婆。我们所做的只是提供一个交流的平台。”

    这种转变面临的一个障碍是年龄。Tinder普通用户的平均年龄为27岁，其中很多人是大学在校生或刚刚毕业的人，目前对商务联系没有什么兴趣。但用户将可以选择不加入约会部分。这款应用会有两个部分，用户可以加入单身酒吧的喧闹，或者与思想成熟的人呆在更加安静的前区。雷德说，人们将不只是为了约会或者做生意才使用Tinder，还会为了获得各种方便，例如寻找网球伙伴的时候。“60岁的老大爷将来会使用Tinder吗？我认为答案可归结于他的朋友是否在那上面找到了网球伙伴。”

    但就连亚根也把Tinder视为约会应用，至少目前是如此。“目前，我们知道Tinder是出色的约会工具，”他说。“它是否能成长为远超约会范畴的东西呢？当然有这个可能。但我对肖恩的建议是，‘专注于你已经挖到的金矿。如果你能让它变得更大更好，感谢上帝，但这是以后的事情。’”Tinder还没有赚到钱，但雷德相信，通过提供付费的“额外内容”（他说绝不会有广告），Tinder能够实现盈利。

    下一步是什么？有人猜测Tinder最终将增加按键，使用户的回复更加直接：我不是单身，但我想用这个来寻找激情；我是单身，想找个男/女朋友；我只想找个性伴侣等等。至于这款应用的名字是否能使人产生更加正经的联想，这有可能，但很难。“我和我的朋友把它当作一场游戏，”纽约的21岁大学生朱莉安娜•亚当斯说。“鉴于它的表面性，我希望Tinder永远不要变成招聘工具。”（财富中文网）

    译者：千牛絮

    Now Tinder is trying to change that image by adding new features. First, its latest update includes something called Matchmaker, which allows you to connect two friends with an introductory note; they can then chat within the app. While it can be used to set people up romantically, Tinder hopes it also will be used for non-romantic purposes. Another update in the near future will offer up a sort of duplicate version of the dating section, but under a business heading; users will continue to see photos, but they'd be judging people on whether they'd make an appealing business connection. So, you'd see a photo of a man as well as a brief synopsis of his work background; he might be a consultant with McKinsey. Click him, and here you'd see a bit more of his work experience.

    Rad insists he doesn't see Tinder as a dating app -- and never did. "The long-term vision," he says, was always "for you to use Tinder to find new people for any purpose." He's aware of the light in which some see Tinder but argues that the app is whatever you make of it: "There are people who just want to hook up and then there are guys who either knowingly or unknowingly are finding a wife. All we do is open up a chat box."

    One obstacle to this shift appears to be age; the average Tinder use is 27, many of them in college or just out and uninterested, for now, in making business connections. But users will be able to opt out of the dating part -- the app will be like a two-section bar where you can enter the fray of the singles lounge or stay in the quieter front area with the adults. Rad suggests that people will use Tinder not just for dating or for business, but for anything convenient, like when you're looking for a tennis partner: "Is the 60-year-old grandpa going to use Tinder? Well, I think it just comes down to, did his friend find a tennis partner on there."

    Even Yagan sees Tinder as a dating app, for the moment. "Right now what we know is that Tinder is great for dating," he says. "Can it grow into something much bigger than that? Sure, it's possible. But my recommendation to Sean has been, 'Stay focused on the gold that you struck. If you can go to something bigger and better, hallelujah, but that's much more long-term." Tinder doesn't make any money yet but could, Rad believes, by layering on "premium content" available at a cost. (He says there will never be ads.)

    What's next? One imagines Tinder could eventually add buttons that make users' responses even more direct: I Am Not Single But I Get a Thrill From Using This; I Am Single And Looking for a Relationship; I Purely Want to Have Sex, etc. As for whether the app's name could take on a more serious association, it's possible, but will be tough. "My friends and I see it as a game," says Julianne Adams, a 21-year-old college student in New York. "Considering its superficial foundation, I hope Tinder never becomes a hiring tool."