Relationships

Dating app OkZoomer began as a joke, but has unexpectedly taken off among college students across the U.S.

The coronavirus has forced people to find creative ways to connect, and college students have risen to the challenge. Ileana Valdez and Patrycja Gorska, two Yale Juniors, noticed the Ivy League Meme Consortium was growing fast with almost 100,000 members who were posting memes about their new social lives over Zoom. They thought they could do something similar with virtual dating. 

According to The Dallas Observer, they created a Google Form to match people going on blind Zoom dates as a joke, but then they began seeing hundreds, then thousands, sign up. In just two days, almost 2,400 students from 170 colleges across the country had signed up. Gorska and Valdez recruited more students to help, with a total of six people staffing their project, including Valdez’s brother who created an algorithm to help with matches. Now just weeks later, they have over 12,000 sign-ups.

Dating should be easy, but it never is. How do you meet someone and what do you do on a date? There are always dating sites and even professional matchmakers. Dating sites can be successful, but it usually takes several tries before you meet someone you want to date again. The idea of a professional matchmaker screening potential dates takes the excitement out of meeting a potential life-partner on your own.

It is possible to start dating without help from a website or professional. You might need to make a few changes but it will be worth it when you finally meet your "perfect" person. Here are seven dating tips that might improve your love life.

As a growing number of people began social distancing, they are turning to dating apps for connection – and specifically, logging on to Tinder.

Tinder reported that it received over 3 billion swipes in one day – Sunday March 28th – the highest number ever recorded in the app’s eight-year history.

The company also noted in a press release that daily conversations have increased about 20% across the globe, and the average length of conversations is 25% longer. In the US, conversations have been up an average of 19% and the average length of a conversation is 8% longer.

People around the world continue social distancing as COVID-19 spreads, and as a result, dating apps are seeing a surge of activity among users.

A new study by Dating.com found that there has been an 82% increase in dating app usage since the beginning of March, showing how much people have come to rely on dating apps for connection and meeting people virtually.

The study also looked at where that usage spiked over the month of March when more people than ever began to isolate to stop the spread of the virus, to see how it correlated with positive cases of COVID-19 around the world. The United States takes the lead as the most active country for online dating, notably as the country’s positive cases have significantly increased and it has become the global hot spot of the pandemic.

Virtual Dating Increases in Popularity

Popular dating apps Tinder and Bumble have not seen a drop-off of users since the coronavirus was declared a global pandemic and people began isolating at home; in fact, user activity has spiked over the past few weeks.

Roughly 25 percent of Americans have been ordered to stay home and avoid gathering with others according to a report by CNBC. But dating app users aren’t letting this deter them – instead, they are opting for virtual dates as they work from home and isolate from others.

A report from Mother Jones said that from March 12-22, Bumble saw a 21% increase in messaging among Seattle users, one of the first cities affected by the growth and spread of the virus. Two other hot spots, New York and San Francisco, saw a 23% and 26% surge in messaging, respectively. A total of 87 million people use the app worldwide.

As the coronavirus becomes pandemic, OkCupid users are choosing to search for love and keep on dating.

According to Yahoo Finance, a whopping 92 percent of American OkCupid users said they are willing to date during the coronavirus outbreak. Overall, 88 percent of users across the globe are willing to date at this time. OkCupid also noticed a 7 percent increase of conversations between users in the first week of March, according to an internal questionnaire the company sent to its users. 

It’s important to note, as Yahoo Finance pointed out, that it wasn’t clear in the questionnaire if “going on dates” meant in-person or virtually over an app, through Facetime, Skype, Zoom, or other web-based means. That could be an important distinction. Dating.com surveyed singles during the pandemic and found that as many as 82 percent were turning to dating apps to meet people and go on virtual (online) dates.