The business of dating.
What people think about dating apps?
Hello Friends,
Wishing everyone a great start to the week.
This was supposed to be sent yesterday, but I went into a rabbit hole yesterday while also traveling to Lucknow so this could not be done.
And before I get into this topic, I want to give a massive shout-out to Sonali Arora, who was a subscriber on the free list but became a star supporter of this newsletter!
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Twenty years from now, the idea that someone looking for love won't look for it online will be silly, akin to skipping the card catalog to instead wander the stacks because the right books are found only by accident.
Wired Magazine, 2002.
And so here we are now, almost 20 years later and the prediction Wired made has indeed come true. Today the world of dating is no longer conformed to coffeehouses and bookstores it is now dominated by Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, OkCupid and so many more platforms with equally funky names for an extra funky generation of millennial and GenZ daters.
Online Dating is still quite new and unexplored especially in this part of the continent. Though there is a growing number of urban daters, most of us are still quite skeptical about it. Our parents continuously forbade us from talking to strangers online, and now we are having a hard time accepting the fact that love can be found through a web interface. As bizarre as it sounds, it is true, and contrary to popular belief it’s not as shallow as swiping right and left on someone’s pictures. Newer apps are developing better “matchmaking technology”, for example, OkCupid requires people to answer a series of questions based on which compatibility is judged.
We don't claim to evaluate you perfectly, but we do claim to find someone who claims to fulfill your claimed requirements, exactly.
OkCupid
Not surprisingly, the pandemic has hugely accelerated the usage of dating apps. So much so that IBISWorld predicts that the global online dating industry will increase its worth from $5.3 billion to $6.4 billion. This statistical growth is also reflected by the time spent by users on these apps. Bumble India, says that they have observed a 38 percent rise in the use of video calls and voice chats with people spending roughly 20 minutes on average. 2021 has also been the busiest year for Tinder. “Conversations have become 32 percent longer, 19 percent more messages were exchanged in a day, the app observed 11 percent more swipes and 42 percent more matches per Tinder member.”
Concluding: Dating apps are just like any other marketplace business, it always has supply and demand problem.
I got so intrigued by all these numbers that I decided to do a little survey of my own. So I put up stories on my Instagram asking my followers to recount their experiences. And the responses were so fun, I am keeping them anonymous for privacy purposes.
“I have to say my timing of installing them was quite off. I installed them after I moved to my hometown after graduation. So haven't been able to go out on an actual date via a dating app. But have come across several kinds of people through it. Few guys genuinely seemed good and even ended up having insightful discussions that were nowhere near flirting, and others were outright jerks (won't go into detail about them)
But what I feel is that if a person is using a dating app where it is a given that initial conversations have to be via texting, they need to be at least decent at that. What I personally feel that only if there is vibe match after at least 2-3 days of texting only then I'll be comfortable for a voice or video call not otherwise.” The dynamics of Intimacy and comfort plays out differently online.
It was good till I chose to go off it. I mostly am friends with people it didn’t work with.” A lot of people responded on similar lines. So I guess if not for dating it’s a good place to explore people and form friendships.
“Weirdest story ever. Married a man I met on Tinder. TBH never really thought that would happen.” See such a beautiful thing.
“Yes. Mortifying.” Oops.
“I used to create content out of it. And it was so much fun!” Hmm, so next time you hit writer’s block, you know where to find content.
“Nope, would like to, but my city just doesn’t work for me. For most of us.” So the experience varies from city to city, someone else also replied saying “Mumbai is good, not the best”
Very interesting stuff. Had so much fun reading about this and talking to you people. I am thinking of exploring more of these conversational experience-based topics on my Instagram and here in my newsletter. So, do look out for my IG stories and reels.
What I was Reading this Week?
Domino’s offer for free pizza for a lifetime for Silver medalist Mirabai- A marketing stunt or a genuine gesture?
Zuckerberg wants to transform Facebook into a metaverse company.
What I was doing this week?
I was in conversation with Suchita Salwan, Founder and CEO of Little Black Book.
We at PFA, launched a campaign for creators.
I hosted a Creator’s Roundtable at Pepper Content yesterday.
Thank you so much for reading this email, if you liked any part of it, please feel free to share it with your friends or family.
You can reply to this email for any suggestions or recommendations or even DM me directly on Instagram @pawan_rochwani