Why Women Are Using Instagram as a Dating App, Study Reveals

Women Are Dumping Bumble and Tinder for Instagram

A recent study has revealed that not only celebrities but also regular users are increasingly using the social sharing app Instagram as a dating platform.

Instagram is typically used to share lifestyles, special moments, and interesting experiences. It is also popular among sports, showbiz, fashion, and media personalities for sharing their lifestyle moments.

While Instagram, like other platforms, offers a Direct Message (DM) option where users can message each other, the study found that most DMs exchanged on the platform are romantic in nature.

According to the website Business Insider, Instagram's DMs and Stories are being used primarily as a tool for establishing romantic relationships.

Most users engage in romantic conversations with people of the opposite gender through DMs, even if there is no pre-existing relationship or friendship. They are also seen digitally flirting with each other through Stories.

The report further noted that Meta, Instagram's parent company, is aware of the growing trend of using Instagram as a dating app globally and is actively working to make this easier for users.

Meta aims to make Instagram DMs and Stories even more user-friendly for conversations, allowing people to share their feelings more conveniently.

At the same time, Instagram is working on making DMs and Stories more secure to prevent users from sending inappropriate messages and to protect against trolling and blackmail.

Additionally, the report highlights the increasing trend of celebrities and content creators forming dating communities on Instagram, where users engage in discussions on romantic topics.

In August, when Alexia took a beautiful picture of herself at a bar in Boston and posted it on Instagram, tagging the location, she never expected it would lead to a date with a handsome stranger.

The 30-year-old businesswoman from Connecticut, who chose not to reveal her real name, was attending a bachelorette party when she posted the selfie.

Later that night, a young real estate agent browsing bar photos stumbled upon her picture. He messaged her, complimenting her looks, and asked her out.

It was the first time she had been approached this way. Although she'd been getting dates on apps like Hinge and Bumble for years, she had grown tired of using such platforms.

Alexia told, "There’s so much pressure on dating apps. It just feels like another job – I’m just filling out applications [and] having the same conversations."

She had a "great" first date with the man from Boston, but things didn’t progress further. Regardless, over the past few months, five other people reached out to her on Instagram because they noticed her tagged photos in bars and restaurants they were interested in. Although initially cautious about meeting men this way, she now prefers it over dating apps.

"You can see if you have similar interests, and they get a sense of your profile right away. It's not fake," she explained. "Your family and friends are there, and I think it's more effective."

According to The Financial Times, young singles are growing weary of traditional dating apps like Tinder, which saw a 5% drop in downloads in 2021. They’re searching for new ways to find dates online, and Instagram, with its 1 billion active users, has become an easy, obvious alternative.

Victoria Alario, a 27-year-old from Hoboken, refers to Instagram as a "dating hack" and sees it as a blend of old and new dating styles.

The content creator told , "It’s like the online version of meeting someone at your favorite bar because they’ve been tagged [there]."

Last month, she posted a TikTok story about Instagram dating that garnered nearly 400,000 views. Her followers quickly agreed that Instagram is "great for finding love."

"Instagram is the best dating app out there. That's a fact," one commenter said, while another mentioned they had met their boyfriend that way.

And it’s not just about men approaching photogenic women.

Alario recently came across tagged photos of a restaurant while searching for mouth-watering food pics. Instead, she found a different type of "dish" that caught her eye—a cute guy who had tagged himself at the restaurant. She liked his picture, and soon after, received a follow request and a message from him.

"It turns out we live near each other, and we’ve been chatting," she said, adding that they exchanged numbers and are planning to meet soon. "It was an easy, effortless conversation starter."