Quick: What are your plans for the Sunday after New Year’s Day? Maybe recover from that vodka-soda hangover? Order delivery quesadillas so you can play Call of Duty in your Joe Boxers? Maybe even hit the gym?
Whatever scheme you stumble through—hell, it could be all three—the single dudes among you will definitely want to spend some time sprucing up your online dating profile, because January 8, 2017 will be a cosmic alignment for shacking up. Yes: The first Sunday of each new year, dubbed “Dating Sunday,” is peak season for swiping, according to the folks at Tinder.
“Typically, we’ve seen a spike in people joining and using Tinder at the beginning of each year,” says Jess Carbino, Ph.D., Tinder’s in-house sociologist. “With the close of one year comes new beginnings in the next, and during the last few weeks of the year, people often take time to reflect on their accomplishments, failures, as well as reassess how to improve their lives in the New Year—especially in the romance category. For singles, a very common New Year’s resolution is to find a significant other. With the combined spike in Tinder usage and millions of existing users in 196 countries, 2017 may be your year for meeting that special someone no matter where you are.”
In other words: Nothing like the start of another year to remind you that you’re desperately lonely and haven’t had a decent relationship in years.
Of course, January 8 isn’t the first Sunday of 2017—New Year’s Day was—and the water’s already heating up: Tinder says it had one of its biggest days ever on January 1, 2017. But the Dating Sunday feeding frenzy is gonna be even bigger, with Tinder anticipating a surge in users and downloads, and a 12% spike in matches, on January 8.
Oh, and lest you think Tinder’s just a digital meat market: You’d be surprised to know 80 percent of users are seeking a meaningful relationship. And you’d be smart to join, swipe, and match this weekend. Rather try your luck on a different app/service? EliteSingles anticipates a 115% increase in their online dating subscriptions; and Match predicts a 42% spike in new singles flocking to the site. In fact, Match’s peak season (December 26-February 14) typically sees more than 50 million messages sent, 5 million newly uploaded photos, and 1 million dates worldwide.
And if you’re a little rusty in the dating department? Fear not, Bro Namath, and read on:
