The Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed it forced users from all over India to rely on chatting websites for socializing. The number of users in casual chatting apps and dating apps has doubled to ensure that people are still in touch while staying safe inside the home.
Snehil Khanor , the chief executive office of TrulyMadly, a dating app, has remarked that Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad of India have seen an increase in the number of users using the app. All over the globe, more than 85 lakh people are using the platform for online dating.
Singles Are Using Dating Platforms For Serious Relationships
A recent survey by Times Of India revealed that in 2021, 40% of single Indians are using various online platforms for virtual dating. 33.33% of the people dating online are expecting to be in a serious relationship by the end of the year. Bumble India states that 50% of its users are new dawn daters. New dawn daters refer to the people who have recently become single. The rise of break-up has resulted from Covid-19 as the partners were unable to see each other and aggravation of issues with their partner.
Wenesday Rate
Wed 25 Dec. 2024
In the current scenario, a pre-date phenomenon is trending where the users are trying to get to know their partners on an online platform before actually meeting the person. Apart from traditional chatting and dating apps, global chatting websites like Omegle and Chatroulette also saw a growth in their users. For instance, in January 2020, Omegle saw 34 million visits, increasing to 65 million visits in January 2021. With so much traffic, the moderation in the website has also increased. Most of the users of these websites are from the US, UK, India and Mexico. The majority of the users of these websites are teenagers. Omegle has been a hit amongst many celebrities like Emma Chamberlain, KSI and James Charles.
Clubhouse Has Become An Instant Hit
Clubhouse, an invite-only chat app that was launched this year on May 21, also saw a massive bloom with the app crossing more than a million downloads in just a few months. The app gained huge popularity recently after Elon Musk used it. The great part is that everything in Clubhouse was organic. Elon Musk was not asked to make an appearance in the ClubHouse by its founders. Even Mark Zuckerberg made an appearance in ClubHouse.
In addition to the chatting platforms, the number of users with mobile messenger apps also saw a rise. Currently, the most popular messenger apps are WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, QQ, Telegram and Snapchat.
Globally, 82% of the singles are using online dating due to Covid-19, even though there was a visible rise in screen fatigue. According to a report by The Drum, on Tinder, the number of right swipes increased by 11% and a total of 42% more matches occurred in 2020. Similarly, in Hinge, another dating platform saw a spike of 63% in its download.
Video Chatting Feature Has Become A Must
Owing to Covid-19, different manifestations of online communication could be seen, including video chatting, voice chatting and text chatting. Even though the newer form of communication has become popular out of necessity, according to many researchers, these trends will continue to exist even in future. They will become a key feature of contemporary dating culture across the globe.
Different popular dating apps like Match, Bumble, Hinge, Tinder and OkCupid, which previously incorporated textual chat and voice calls, have included the much in demand video chatting feature to enhance the virtual communication experience. Data by Bumble has revealed that video chat has become a regular routine amongst its users.
Interestingly, the singles are no longer using these platforms for casual chit-chat. The motive behind using these websites is to have a serious relationship in the post-pandemic world. For instance, data has revealed that 75% of the Hinge users want to be in a serious relationship.
Rise In Online Crimes
Along with the rise of users in these chatting websites, cybercrime has also increased globally. Especially the websites which do not come with any moderators are seeing an increase of online predators for kids. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that no personal information is revealed during a chat. Anything that you do not want to go public should not be revealed during a chat with a stranger.
