Instagram has become a hot dating app in the era of swipe fatigue

Kerrigan’s Let’s Fucking Date account is the perfect example.

What started as a pandemic-era livestream where Kerrigan herself went on dates, LFD is now a full-fledged dating service where Kerrigan curates a batch of eligible singles every Saturday and sends profiles to an Instagram broadcast channel with about 4,000 people.

“It normalizes you being able to slide into someone’s DM, which feels more intentional and approachable than a swipe on a Hinge or a Bumble,” Kerrigan said.

While Kerrigan thought about going the route of building a dating app, she opted to keep her product Instagram-native.

And unlike many dating apps in 2024, Instagram — and Kerrigan’s LFD channel — is free. (Kerrigan told BI that while she has considered charging for access to her channel via Instagram’s subscription product, she is more focused on building trust and proof of concept.)

Finding love in a hopeless place

Kerrigan’s LFD page isn’t the only eligible singles account I’ve come across. Last year, cofounder of digital magazine Byline, Gutes Guterman, started posting eligible NYC singles to an account called the “Gutes List.”

Other dating-adjacent pages include missed connections accounts like “Missed You NYC,” which posts monthly roundups of submissions they’ve received. There are also dating content channels like Street Hearts, a short-form video series run by Fallen Media starring dating coach Tiffany Baira. And I’ve even seen someone who has made a dedicated dating Instagram profile, complete with a Google Forms link and paid advertising strategy.

Meanwhile, Instagram is continuing to build out features that could make flirting even easier. Earlier this month, it launched comments on stories that people can (and will most likely) use to publicly signal their interest in someone or find another excuse to DM them. Instagram’s notes feature, too, has gotten an overhaul this year with notes now appearing on in-feed posts (yet again, another prompt to DM your crush).

“At the end of the day, human beings want to connect,” Kerrigan said — and as long as dating apps aren’t cutting it, Instagram will do.