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Published August 5th, 2020 at 12:13 PM

Jane, a 58-year-old online entrepreneur in Florida who says she’s critiqued about 50 OLD profiles on Reddit, remembers one barbed comment that read: “Dude, just go back into your basement.”. But Jane sees her amateur dating coach duties as half cheerleader and half someone who will “kick you in the seat of your pants.”. As many single people know, searching for love can be a challenge even in the best of times. But looking for it online during a global pandemic is something truly complex—and involves some. Online Dating Is Here To Stay Thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Due to the fears surrounding the pandemic, a lot of people resorted to staying inside. Now, even though the danger of infection is dissipating, the increased use of apps like Tinder is here to stay. By Amy Harris, Utah State University. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When government leaders instituted stay-at-home orders and other quarantine rules in the spring, more than just hairstylists and restaurants were suddenly shuttered. People’s love lives were instantly shelved, too, as the lack of places to go and concerns about the virus overshadowed the desire to couple.

Still, humans crave interaction, so online dating exploded in popularity.

The numbers tell the tale.

In research conducted April 22-24, 2020 by Morning Consult, a data intelligence firm, 31% of the 2,200 American singles surveyed who use a dating app reported “somewhat more” use of online dating apps during quarantine. And 22% revealed they were utilizing dating apps “much more” than they had pre-pandemic. Nearly half of those who use a dating app said they logged on every day.

Challenges of Pandemic Dating

Jane (not her real name), 59, who lives in Ohio, found herself single when her 37-year marriage ended in 2017. She lived alone for the 18 months prior to her divorce, giving her time to adjust to her new and strange reality. She began online dating six months after her divorce was finalized.

Online Dating Pandemic Reddit Game

“I was thinking ‘where does a fifty-six-year-old go to meet people?’ Online dating seemed like the only viable option,” said Jane.

Over the past three years, Jane has tried five dating apps and has met more than 100 men in person. She was in a relationship when Ohio issued its coronavirus quarantine orders on March 29, so the new rules didn’t affect her life much. However, when that relationship ended, “it was back to the drawing board” of online dating, she said.

Ohio lifted its stay-at-home orders on May 29. Since then, Jane has met five dates at either a park or outdoors at a restaurant. Sparks did not fly during any of those socially distanced meetings, but Jane said if they had, COVID-19 would not have kept her from kissing.

Kate Kaufmann, 68, likes to say her divorce was “completed” in 2016 following a 34-year-marriage. Soon thereafter, the Oregonian joined, then quit, Match.com, thinking it was too soon to start dating. In 2018, she spent three months on eHarmony, where she was emotionally misled by a would-be suitor.

In June 2019, Kaufmann returned to online dating. She joined OkCupid, where she met a man she dated for six months. She rejoined the site in January 2020 when the two of them broke up.

Despite her reliance on the internet for assistance finding a partner, Kaufmann has not been on a virtual date during the pandemic. “I don’t even know what that means,” she admitted. Since quarantining became the norm, she has met two men face-to-face.

“Everyone wore masks, which feels odd. It adds another layer. No one knows the protocols nowadays. I can’t even picture how it works to get to (becoming close),” she said. For her, kissing during COVID-19 is an absolute no-no.

While she does not find dating during the pandemic satisfying, Kaufmann has no plans of quitting.

Still, not every dating boomer agrees that physical interaction during COVID-19 is wrong, despite overall concerns about contracting the virus.

Tim (who asked that his last name not to be used), who has been divorced four years, has taken two women out since Ohio’s stay-at-home orders were lifted.

The 55-year-old Columbus resident said despite regularly donning a mask when he can’t social distance outside or in a store, he would consider having sex with a woman he met online. “If I trusted her, and knew she wore a mask in public regularly, I would even sleep with her,” he said.

Creative Virtual Dates

Norma Bryant Howard, 73, is a Louisville divorcee. She began hosting a weekly podcast on her Facebook page about boomers and dating in January 2020 because “I discovered there were so many women who had totally given up on the sanctity of having a loving connection with a high quality man,” she said. Her program, ‘The Princess Secrets: Dating Advice and More for Today’s Baby Boomers” is presented live on Fridays at 7 p.m. ET.

On a personal level, Howard has been in a long-distance relationship with her boyfriend for nearly nine years. Due to concerns about the virus, the couple has only seen each other twice since March.

They keep their love alive in a variety of ways appropriate for a pandemic. For example, they enjoy a dinner date over Skype every Saturday night. They each sit at their respective dining room tables and eat the same menu. Thursday nights are reserved for Netflix movies, which they watch simultaneously, then discuss afterwards. Virtual tours of museums throughout the world and virtual cooking classes have also proven enjoyable.

Eric Resnick fields dozens of questions from clients about dating every day. As owner of Profilehelper.com, Resnick has been helping singles write their dating profiles since 2005. That adds up to over 25,000 profiles on every dating site imaginable (unless the site promotes adultery).

Dating sites appeal to a wide range of audiences, from the general (like Bumble) to the niche (like Farmers Only). Still, “90% of the dating market is probably on 10” sites, namely Match, Bumble, Hinge and OkCupid, said Resnick.

However, there is a nefarious side to the online experience. As dating apps gain in popularity, so do the opportunities for schemers to ply their craft.

Resnick cautioned daters aged 50 and older to be mindful of would-be partners who might be frauds because singles in that demographic are “the most regularly targeted markets for scammers.”

He urged boomers to stick to locals when it comes to online dating. That’s because distance is an excuse a scammer often uses to delay an initial meeting, pandemic notwithstanding. Meet face-to-face in a public venue within a week of an initial online encounter, said Resnick, “so the fantasy doesn’t keep building.”

According to Resnick, scammers prey on men and women differently. Widows over 60 are prime targets, with a popular ruse being the “hero scam.” In that scenario, which usually occurs early in an online interaction, the scammer claims to have experienced a small emergency that can be resolved with less than $200 worth of assistance from the victim.

“You solve their problem, you feel like a hero and they know they’ve got you,” Resnick said.

Female scammers usually take longer to percolate. A favored scheme is less about a crisis and more about a “large opportunity, like property development. It’s a scam of opportunity and emotional blackmail,” said Resnick.

Despite the inherent risks associated with online dating, it is COVID-19-resistant.

Resnick said, “Now is a great time to try it because it gives you the opportunity to meet like-minded people without” the additional pressures of sexualizing the relationship.

This article is from Next Avenue, a public media site produced by Twin Cities PBS. Tami Kamin Meyer is an attorney and freelance writer based in Columbus. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, MarketWatch, Better Homes and Gardens and Cannabis & Tech Today. She is the Social Media Chair of the American Society of Journalists and Authors.@girlwithapen

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People around the world are craving human connection in lockdown, leading dating apps to experience a boost that proves romance isn't dead (well, virtually at least). As usage heats up, these matchmaking services are not only taking advantage of abandoned ad space, but some are even braced for a revenue boost of their own as brands look to capitalise on digital dates.

Before the turn of the century, the thought of linking up with a stranger on a mobile app would have been unimaginable. Fast-forward to the present day, and platforms like Tinder, Bumble, Happn, Grindr and Hinge sit unashamedly on the phone screens of millions of singletons.

When the pandemic hit, many questioned how dating apps could survive with an estimated 2.6 billion people locked inside, date venues closed for the foreseeable future and casual hookups out of the question.

Yet while entwined hearts during the Spanish Influenza might have seen love blossom through the exchanging of letters, love in the time of coronavirus is ablaze through video calls and instant messaging, as people flock to dating apps to find that special someone.

With more and more people exploring this Black Mirror-esque world of ‘virtual dating,' a new era of dating has dawned.

Where household brands are slashing ad spend, these modern matchmakers are making the most of their moment in the sun and being smart about their brand investment. Some are even reaping the rewards of an in-app ad surge of their own as advertisers look to reach switched-on audiences.

Using tech to power connections

Prior to the pandemic, online dating was already big business. Now as Covid-19 looms large and social distancing looks to continue throughout 2020 many are retuning their business models in response.

In 2019 the number of smartphone dating app users in the US was 25.1 million and Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and Match.com posted revenues of $2.05bn, gleaned from subscriptions and advertising deals.

Tinder alone pulled in $1.2 billion in revenue over 2019; a 43% increase from 2018.

To continue this upwards trajectory, Tinder last week (6 May) announced plans to add a video dating feature in the second quarter of this year as a direct response to the threat posed by coronavirus in slowing its user growth.

Tinder is actually a bit late to the video dating party — its rival apps have been far less tardy when it comes to capitalising on the trend for face-to-face calls, thus rendering them more lockdown ready. Bumble, for instance, introduced a video and voice call feature last year, while Hinge launched its own 'Date From Home' feature at the start of lockdown in March.

'I imagine that we're going to see far more dates than ever come out of this,' Hinge's chief marketing officer, Nathan Roth tells The Drum, explaining how through 'Date From Home' users can easily share when they're ready for a digital date, to ease that often awkward and vulnerable transition from messaging to meeting digitally for the first time.

'This specifically came out as a response to listening to our customers and their needs during the quarantine, and figuring out a way how we could serve them best,' he adds.

“During social isolation, everyone has had to adapt their dating strategies to use virtual solutions, such as video dating,” explains Naomi Walkland, associate director for EMEA marketing at Bumble, a dating app, that boasts nearly 90 million users worldwide. It is singular in that women make the first move.

Walkland explains how physical distancing has shown us that in times of uncertainty, people seek meaningful connections and “that connections made online are just as meaningful as those made in real-life. People will always look for new ways to socially connect.”

She explains that overall: “data indicates a trend of increased use by our new and existing users, especially in regards to the chat, video call, and voice call features.”

“We have seen users spending more time speaking to each other on the app, with call durations averaging at 21 minutes as well as a 12% increase in messaging. This shows that people are taking the time to really get to know each other, even whilst apart,” she continues.

After introducing the 'Date from Home' feature, in March, Hinge experienced a 30% increase in messages among users in March (compared to January and February) with 70% of its members would be open for a virtual date.

Globally on OkCupid, there has been a 30% overall increase in messages sent each day since March 11. Matches have increased by 10%, conversations increased by over 20% - as singles turn to online dating for company.

Bucking the ad spend trend

Unprecedented numbers of users are turning to dating apps during lockdown, and as such, dating apps have admitted their ad spend has been largely unaffected.

“The coronavirus hasn’t actually changed our ad spend that dramatically,” says Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer at OkCupid. “This is driven by the fact that OkCupid has seen a surge in activity since early March across the globe, and this continues, so we want to continue to be top of mind for the millions of singles who are connecting right now — albeit virtually.”

While broadcasters are scrambling to fill ad slots abandoned by the collapse of travel and leisure brands, dating apps have found they are able to buy on platforms that would have been out of their reach just months ago.

With brands retracting ad spend across the board, Global’s commercial agency director Katie Bowden tellsThe Drum that it is determined to retain its partners, alongside attracting new business.

“Initially, there was shock and uncertainty,“ she says of the pandemic rendering many campaigns obsolete, but she shares news of a new partnership with Bumble, who spotted an opportunity on Capital FM to talk about virtual dating.

OkCupid has also taken advantage of discount rates online. “Digitally, we’ve seen lower costs and greater efficiencies, driven by other categories pulling out and time spent on devices exploding,” Hobley continues. “Like many folks, we love out-of-home, but we have had to pivot some of the plans we had to support our ‘As Yourself’ campaign.

Hobley admits like while OkCupid doesn’t advertise on TV, it is looking at all the options that might help the platform reach the single, younger dater at this time.

And while OkCupid see podcasts as a perfect channel to tell its story, “not surprisingly, the costs with the bigger players here have not shifted that much.”

As for in-app ads, Happn's chief exec Didier Rappaport says “advertising on our app hasn’t changed at all. Dating is a digital industry, therefore the impact on our industry has been small compared to other industries, as users keep using our services.”

Rappaport goes on to explain that because Happn's marketing is already very digitally-oriented, the app has taken advantage of reduced costs.

“With other brands, from other industries, reducing their ad spend, this has enabled us to have a greater digital reach for our campaigns, with the same amount of budget,“ he says.

Hinge has also admitted that its ad spend has been unaffected by the outbreak.

Keeping advertisers interested

Usage is up during lockdown, and OkCupid’s chief marketing officer reveals that this surge has sparked an increase in brands looking to advertise on the app.

“One thing that is super exciting is the interest that OkCupid has seen from brands wanting to reach our daters and advertise with us,” Hobley shares. “Dating apps have exploded over the last 2 months and I think brands are interested in how they can reach these singles who are connecting and dating at twice the rate they were before corona.“

Online Dating Pandemic Reddit Games

Given that many daters love watching a TV show together, she says there “have been a few entertainment partners who are tapping into this with exciting results.”

Happn has experienced the complete opposite. “Regarding advertising revenues, we have noticed a real decrease, which is easily explained,” its chief exec Rappaport admits. “Many brands have stopped or postponed their marketing expenses but advertising is a very small part of our revenue.”

Dating post-pandemic

While lockdown has provoked a new dawn of virtual dating, Bumble's Walkland says it's 'too soon to state the expected impact' on matchmaker's businesses.

On this new age of dating, she says her team suspects that users will continue to use its video/voice calling features as a way to get to know their matches before making the move to meet in person.

OkCupid, meanwhile, predicts there will be a boom in dating, post-lockdown.

'We’ll likely see a lot of people spending more time on OkCupid when things start to return to normal and more of a dependence on digital or virtual communication before actually going out on a date,' claims Hobley.

With the pandemic forcing people to truly embrace digital when it comes to dating, it's fair to say that dating post-lockdown will look radically different than it did before. As for advertisers, they'll have to figure out where they fit into this new virtual world to make connections with their audiences.