Dating apps saw a vast increase in users this past December 26 through February 14.
While it makes sense that dating app usage would increase around the holiday season and Valentine's Day, but according to a survey conducted by the dating app KinkD, the increase can be attributed to one other factor: the outbreak of the coronavirus.
KinkD offered a survey with 15 questions regarding user experience, one of which was their chief motivation for registering with the app. 25.6% of those that responded to the questionnaire were motivated to join by novel coronavirus outbreak. John Martinuk, the co-founder of KinkD, said, "We conducted this survey because we've noticed an unusual increase in new registration even after Valentine's Day. Normally, there is a rapid new user growth from Feb. 1 to 14, then it starts to taper off after the festival. But this February, we've been seeing a 15% new user growth during 10 days after Feb. 14, compared with the same time period before Feb. 14. And now, this number still keeps growing. It is definitely something we didn't expect. We included 'the outbreak of novel coronavirus' as an option, because, so far, the spread of this disease is inching closer toward meeting the definition of a global pandemic, limiting social contact to fight the virus makes people feel anxious and lonely, that is where dating app comes in. It turns out the figure backs our assumption, in other words, to some extent, the novel coronavirus outbreak has boosted dating app usage."
Among all those that responded to the survey, one user from Japan commented, "The coronavirus outbreak in Japan scares many people. No more hanging out with friends really sucks, but at least, I can still have some fun on a dating app like KinkD." Another user, this one from the US, said, "I just got back from China last month, it has been 4 days since being put under full lockdown by my parents. I'm cool with that as I've downloaded 7 dating apps to kill the time."
Via PR Newswire