Blizzard 2015: Dating Sites See Boom During Snow Storm - East Idaho News
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Blizzard 2015: Dating Sites See Boom During Snow Storm

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Getty 012715 CoupleSnow?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1422392372120iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — As millions of people in the Northeast hunkered down during a massive winter storm this week, many took the excuse to stay indoors as a chance for a snow day hook-up.

Some dating sites reported record amounts of traffic over the past 24 hours in New York City and surrounding states, around the same time a storm was walloping the area, dumping as much as two feet of snow from New Jersey to Maine.

Match.com told ABC News exclusively it saw a big jump in the number of people logging on their site.

“For the blizzard states we’re seeing an increase of over 60 percent of email initiations between Match members,” a Match.com spokesperson said.

OKCupid also reported a 10 percent spike in traffic.

Representatives from Tinder didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for user activity stats during the storm but the dating app, along with Facebook and Instagram, reported outages on Monday. Hinge, another popular dating app, declined to provide such numbers.

Some people in New York City even took to Craigslist to post “want ads” for “blizzard boyfriends” and girlfriends, hoping to find someone to snuggle with on the snow day. “Seeking a single 20- to 30-something female who shares my excitement for snow days,” one ad read.

“Seeking snow day make-out buddy” another ad read.

Adam, a Craigslist user who posted one of the snow day ads, said he did it as a joke, and received dozens of responses.

“I figured I’d post it, send it to a few friends for a laugh and maybe get one or two responses, which would also likely generate laughs,” he told ABC News via email. “I truly thought of it as a joke, but one of those could-be-like-1-percent-truthful kind of jokes, because, after all, who doesn’t want a snow-day make-out buddy?.”

Another used named Phil C., who also posted a hook-up ad on Craigslist, said he didn’t receive any responses.

“[I] Think most [people] on Craigslist are so very fake,” he said via email. “All they want to do [is] just ask for a photo, never answer you back.”

Relationship expert Logan Levkoff wasn’t surprised by the uptick in activity on dating sites during the storm.

“Winters may be tough on singles because people can feel lonely during cold bleak times,” Levkoff said. “A blizzard, especially one that traps you indoors, may motivate singles to seek connection.”


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