"There is a serious lack of opportunities for China's young singles to make new friends. And this problem is much bigger than that in the west," says Tantan's founder and CEO Wang Yu at TechCrunch Shanghai. "In Sweden for example, there are parties almost every day starting at junior high school. People go clubbing over the weekend. They have more spare time, so they can meet people on various occasions. But China doesn't have such pickup culture. College students basically have no parties and rarely go clubbing. They are too busy, so almost don’t have ways to meet people offline."
「中國年輕的單身非常缺乏結交新朋友的渠道。而且這個問題其實在中國比西方要大很多。」探探的創始人兼執行長王宇在 TechCrunch 國際創新峰會 2017 上海站現場如是說。「舉例來說，在瑞典，幾乎從初中開始，每天都會有派對。人們周末會去泡吧。人們的閒暇時間更多，所以可以在各自場合認識不同的人。但是中國沒有這種偶遇文化。大學生幾乎沒有聚會，也很少去泡吧。他們都太忙碌，大多數人沒有線下交朋友渠道。」
*TechCrunch 是美國科技類博客，由網際網路方面的律師Michael Arrington建立，主要報導新興網際網路公司、評論網際網路新產品、發布重大突發新聞。TechCrunch 目前已成為關注網際網路和創業的重量級博客媒體，是美國網際網路產業的風向標，裡面的內容幾乎成為VC和行業投資者的投資參考。2013年8月，科技博客Techcrunch正式進入中國。
*pickup 偶然結識
Tinder for the shy, introverted Chinese
專為羞澀內向中國人設計的「Tinder」
Tantan believes it has found a way to tackle the Chinese dating obstacle through the Tinder model: the location-based anonymous social app, Wang suggests, offers a more convenient, less embarrassing way for young Chinese to start a conversation. The three-year-old app has about 6-7 million daily active users and has matched over 3-4 billion pairs of users, Wang says.
探探認為通過Tinder模型，它們已經找到了一種方法來解決中國人的約會障礙：王宇表示，這種基於位置的匿名社交應用，提供了一個更方便且不尷尬的方式幫助中國的年輕人展開聊天。這一應用上線三年，現有6 至 7百萬每日活躍用戶，累積三四十億次成功配對。
「Deep down, Chinese young people today are actually quite open. They just need some help to break the wall. Behind the wall, they are very similar to Americans,」 Wang says of the app. Users of Tantan swipe through photos of people nearby—to the left if they dislike them, to the right if they like them. Users will only be able to start chatting when they mutually like each other.
「在內心深處，今天中國的年輕人很開放。他們只是需要外力幫助來打破常規。隱藏在『常規』後真實的他們，與美國人非常相像。」王宇評價道。探探的用戶通過滑動查看附近的人的照片——不喜歡就左滑，喜歡就右滑。用戶只有在相互喜歡後才能開始對話。
* break the wall 打破思維枷鎖、打破限制、打破常規等
This icebreaking function, according to Wang, is the core of Tantan. Since offline dating opportunities are abundant in the West, dating apps play more of a complementary role. In China, however, people badly need an app like Tantan because of their more reserved, introverted tendencies. Tantan's goal is to provide a channel for young people to meet, rather than facilitate fleeting sexual encounters.
據王宇表示，這種破冰功能正是探探的核心所在。由於西方線下約會機會豐富，交友軟體更多扮演補充配角。而在中國，人們迫切需要一個像探探這樣的應用，因為人們更保守、更內向。探探的目標是為年輕人提供一個交友渠道,而不是促生短暫的「約一約」。
「In general, girls have always been more passive in society, and in relationships,」 Wang adds. 「But on Tantan they can choose who they like,」 Wang adds. This social behavior is reflected in the dating app as well. According to Tantan's data, women like about 6% of the recommended users, while men like as much as 60%. The app does deliberately keep a 6:4 male-to-female gender ratio, so the gender imbalance also plays a role.
「一般而言，女生在社會上，在談戀愛方面，一直處於比較被動的狀態，」王補充道。「但她們可以在探探上選擇她們喜歡的人。」 這種社會行為也反映在社交應用上。探探的數據顯示，女性喜歡6%的推薦用戶,而男性喜歡率高達60%。所以探探故意保持6:4的男女性別比例，性別失衡控制發揮了重要的角色。
Tantan—a tribute to QQ
探探——向QQ致敬
The 36-year-old founder compares Tantan to one of China's longest-running social apps, QQ. The 18-year-old Tencent-owned app is still one of the country's biggest networking apps with 861 million monthly active users as of August, though it has pivoted to capture a younger population. QQ’s sister app WeChat, on the other hand, is now a ubiquitous all-in-one app that occupies virtually all aspects of Chinese people's life.
36歲的創始人王宇對比了探探和中國運營時間最長的社交軟體——QQ。騰訊旗下的QQ已經運營18年，至今仍是國內最大的網絡應用，8月份的月度活躍用戶為8.61億，儘管該軟體的目標群體相對較年輕。 另一方面，QQ的姊妹應用微信現在是一個無處不在的一體化應用，它幾乎佔據了中國人民生活的方方面面。
「Friends from my generation met half of their friends via QQ. When [our generation] grew up, however, there seemed to be a lack of apps that allow young people to do so. The existing social apps were either too serious or too flirty,」 Wang says, claiming that Tantan has proudly become an app that users—at least the female ones—aren't ashamed of admitting they use it. The founder, feeling nostalgic, tells the audience that the app is a tribute to QQ, a salute to the golden online-dating age in the past.
「我這一代人中，很多人通過QQ認識了自己半數的朋友。但是，當我們這一代人長大以後，如今似乎缺乏應用程式允許當代的年輕人這樣做。現有的社交應用不是太嚴肅就是太輕浮。」王宇說道。他聲稱探探很自豪地成為這樣一個應用程式：其用戶，至少女性用戶不羞於承認在使用這一應用。創始人以懷舊的口吻告訴觀眾，這個應用程式在向QQ致敬，致敬在線約會黃金期的逝去。
*nostalgic 懷舊的、鄉愁的
The swipe-left, swipe-right feature inevitably conjures the impression of a hookup app, though the company says it has taken measures to keep the user experience 「clean.」 For instance, Tantan claims it has shut down 30 million out of its 100 million registered users who are suspected harassers, salespeople, or those who use fake profile pictures. When it comes to the issue of 「hookups,」 however, the founder seems more hands off.
左右滑動的特性不可避免地會使應用給人一種「勾搭」的印象，儘管該公司表示已經採取措施保持用戶體驗的「純潔度」。例如，探探表示已經停用了1億註冊用戶中3000萬用戶的帳號，因為其涉嫌騷擾、推銷或使用假頭像。當涉及「約」的問題時，探探的創始人似乎更放任自流。
"It's hard to claim that our users don't hook up. The more we deny it, the more it seems as if we are trying too hard."
「很難宣稱我們的用戶不『約』。我們越這麼說，大家越會覺得此地無銀三百兩。」
Monetizing the romantic app
浪漫應用盈利化
Tantan has painted a rosy picture to help Chinese young singles to find their ideal date. It has kept away, meanwhile, from monetization until recently. The app is planning to add paid memberships by the end of this year, the founder says. For example, users can pay to unlock the 「recall」 function. Right now, if users accidentally swipe left someone that they like, there is no way of revoking the act.
探探已經幫助中國年輕的單身人士描繪了一幅找到理想約會的美好圖景。它也直到最近才開始盈利。創始人表示，探探計劃今年年底開始添加付費會員項目。例如，用戶可以解鎖「撤回」功能。目前，如果用戶不小心左滑了喜歡的人，他們是無法撤銷這一操作的。
*monetizing vt. 定為貨幣，使成為合法貨幣；鑄造成貨幣;使獲利，使盈利
Tantan is often compared to another hookup app, Momo, the Chinese social app that filed for US IPO in 2014. Started as a social app for strangers, Momo has made a successful pivot to live streaming, a fast-growing, multi-billion RMB industry. When asked whether Tantan will follow the footsteps of Momo, Wang admits that although live streaming is lucrative, it risks digressing from the mission of Tantan, which is to promote social activities.
人們常常用另一個交友軟體——陌陌與探探做比較，陌陌已於2014年申請在美國首次公開募股。從一個陌生人社交軟體起步，陌陌現在已經成功轉向直播這一規模達數十億元的快速發展行業。當被問及探探是否會追隨陌陌的腳步時，王宇表示，儘管直播確實有利可圖，但它與探探的最初使命相違背——即促進社交發展，解決單身交友問題。
「The money incentive to hosts is too attractive, so it will encourage the professional development of [live streaming] hosts. The more professional, the less social. [Live streaming] might be more entertaining, but it’s not particularly social… So in the short run at least, we don’t plan to enter live streaming.」
「對直播平臺而言，掙錢太具有吸引力。這會鼓勵（直播）平臺向專業化發展。越專業化，其社交屬性就越低。直播可能會更有趣，但它並不夠社交化。所以至少在短期內，我們不打算介入直播市場。」
Tantan’s latest round of financing came in June when it raised $120 million from NASDAQ-listed YY Inc., the live streaming pioneer in China, and Genesis Capital, founded by two ex-Tencent Investment veterans. SAIF Partners and Zhongwei Capital also participated in the round.
探探6月最新一輪融資籌集了1.2億美元，資金來自中國直播領導者——在納斯達克上市的YY（歡聚時代）和由兩位前騰訊投資人創立的元生資本。賽富投資基金和眾為資本也參與了本輪融資。