Virtual Trends for Queer Dating in the Pandemic
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
Virtual Trends for Queer Dating in the Pandemic
What is a queer person to do when they can't go anywhere in person to meet someone? It seems like a lot of people have turned to dating apps this pandemic to socialize virtually or perhaps meet someone to bubble with.
Dating Apps are Experiencing a Pandemic Boom
Dating app services are one of the few businesses doing a lot better than usual in the pandemic, and are reporting that not only is usage up by 20-40%, but that people are more inclined to buy their paid service upgrades.
Apps like HER, Grindr, Plenty of Fish and OKCupid have added new features to facilitate virtual dating with online events and video chatting.
Queer Dating Apps and Virtual Events
HER
HER is a queer women and non-binary dating app with users in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the United States. The Horror of Gallery Kay (Feb 17), Tatted Souls (Feb 24) promoted via the app and hosted in zoom. The app allows you to see the profiles of women and enby folks who have rsvp'd to similar to Facebook events, and the chat on zoom is often active and hilarious, in addition to being able to view the other attendees if they have turned their video on.
HER is free, but most functions require you to pay.
GRINDR
Grindr is a mostly queer dude dating app which hosted a Pride Month virtual festival in response to the pandemic called Pride Perseveres, which included a number of events to facilitate dialogue and awareness around Black and Queer and Black and Trans. The app also sold a Pride tee shirt which raised money for The Okra Project, which provides resources and meals to Black trans people around the world.
Covid Questions and Trends
OkCupid
OkCupid is not a queer app but is widely used by queers. The app is known for its statistics collected via their app'ary. An April 2020 blog post for the app reported increases in matches and conversations since the pandemic.
When asked what their ideal virtual date is, over 75,000 OkCupid members said that for quarantined dates, 31% prefer to do some shared activity, like a game, 29% want to have dinner or drinks, 25% prefer a video chat and15% want to watch a movie or TV show together. OkCupid has some interesting predictions about pandemic dating in 2021, including increases in long slow courtships, moving in more quickly, selfies, and a greater focus on dating people with the same political and activist views. Not keen on virtual dating? OkCupid has a list of suggested virtual dating activities.
Plenty of Fish
Plenty Of Fish has been around almost since the beginning of time. Like OkCupid, it’s not specifically a queer app but you can adjust your settings to meet the kinds of people you want to meet. They have a page of ‘dating in a pandemic’ ideas for Vancouver here >
Did you Love Speed dating?
Speed dating is a lot of fun and there are still some organizers out there attempting to duplicate the experience online. We found a few:
Gay Men Virtual Speed Dating in Vancouver
Ages: 22-44 | 7PM. March 3rd 2021
https://stayhappening.com/e/vancouver-gay-men-virtual-speed-dating-%7C-singles-events-%7C-seen-on-bravotv-E3LUS51F0B0N
Queer Femme Meetup
After we get comfy, we'll pair ya'll into interactive video rooms for 1:1 video speed chats so that ya'll can meet dope queer femmes.
Wed, February 17, 2021 | 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM PST
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/queer-femme-meetup-an-interactive-social-event-tickets-138356892189?aff=erelexpmlt
