Instagram is 'the new dating app' as DMs and likes become central to digital flirting

• Have you ever found love on Instagram?
• Instagram features like stories and DMs have become tools for online dating.
• Content creators like Serena Kerrigan are leveraging Instagram to connect singles.

Monitoring who views your stories, curating your profile, following someone to grab their attention, and sliding into DMs.

The ways we use Instagram are full of flirting potential.

In fact, a former Instagram staffer recently told me that the stories feature has pretty much become a dating product. And a former Bumble staffer told me that Instagram was often viewed as a competitor internally. These staffers were granted anonymity because they weren't authorized to publicly discuss company strategy.

So, is Instagram a dating app? The short answer: It definitely can be.

"Everyone's online," Serena Kerrigan, a content creator and host of dating-focused account Let's Fucking Date, recently told Business Insider. "They don't want to be on the dating apps, but a lot of people are OK with a DM slide-in."

As dating app users grow fatigued by endless swiping and lukewarm matches, alternative approaches to online dating are emerging — from apps that focus on IRL dating to simply connecting with people over social media like Instagram.

"We want Instagram to be a place that helps spark connections —whether it's with your closest friends or a crush," a Meta spokesperson told BI. "We've seen there are several features such as Stories likes, DMs, and Notes that people enjoy using to flirt, date and connect."

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.

"Instagram is the new dating app," Baira told BI. "What I am seeing when it comes to flirting is that it's not that people are struggling with the actual conversation, it's starting the conversation."

That's where Instagram comes in, where you can flirt by simply "hearting someone's photo on their story" and can tell "if someone likes you if they're the first one that sees your photo," Baira added.

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.