Interest-based communities are replacing online dating

A few days ago, I wrote a post on how online dating is failing.

What's replacing online dating? An article published by Bloomberg today appears to have provided the answer:

Interest-based communities

Ever heard of Strava? According to Business of Apps, in 2023, Strava had 120 million registered users, with two million added every month.

Letterboxd is a smaller interest-based app. As of June 2024, Letterboxd has 14 million registered users. That's up from 1.8 million in 2020. (I'll let you do the math on the percentage growth.)

Beli is yet another app launched in 2024, which allows you to track places where you've eaten. According to their founder, Beli's users have grown nearly 2,000% over the past two years.

What's going on here? Why are these interest-based community apps growing so much?

Strava = Tinder 2.0?

Sensor Tower, a platform with vast usage data for mobile apps, published a report on Strava and its userbase.

One insight from this report is that Strava has a significant "shared user base with apps like Headspace, Bumble, and Tinder."

These aren't just numbers. Take a look at Strava's usage stats:

Strava's usage peak during evening hours, suggesting that a significant % of its users are drawn to the app for social reasons. Let's say a friend of yours is going for a run. You could take a look and join them easily.

According to Sensor Tower, "on average, Strava users open the app over 35 times every month, compared to its competitors, which average under 15, a remarkable achievement that is likely driven by the app’s careful emphasis of social features."

Can you guess the main demographic behind Letterbox, another community that helps you discover cool films? According to the founders:

"The biggest age cohort for Letterboxd members is 18-24, followed by 25-35."

These are the age groups that date the most. I don't think that's an accident.

Why do people like interest-based communities?

It's an easier and more convenient way to hang out and date. That's the TLDR.

A Strava user named Scott gave this take:

"With these hobby apps, socialization with my friends is less of an event. On Instagram, you’re often posting something only because it’s a big thing, and it’s usually people I don’t really care about, but with Strava you’re just like, ‘My friend went on a run.’"

If you think about it, it makes sense: You're much more likely to strike up a good conversation with someone you have a common interest with. Even if you don't hit it off, you could at least talk about running.

These apps also provide a plausible excuse to get in touch.

The "plausible excuse" method has been around for ages. In the olden days, if a woman wanted someone to approach and talk to her with prospects of starting something romantic, she would drop a handkerchief in front of them, keep walking, and hope the person would see it, pick it up, and bring it back to them where a conversation would start.

The modern version of this can be: "Hey, I saw you buy this book and a lot of people are talking about it, can you borrow it to me?"

Facebook is migrating towards interest-based communities

If you've been using Facebook for the past two years, you've probably noticed that they push Facebook Groups onto your feed. And they push those groups a lot.

So this is a broader trend that's been rising for the past several years.

Opportunities for you as an indie founder

Can you add an "interest-based community" to your software?

People are looking for new ways to meet people, and you could be the new Strada in your own niche.

Create an interest-based tool and add a community

There are so many opportunities here. There are thousands more interests you could create software around. Also, you could start in another language (French, German, etc.)

It's worth noting that most of these platforms I mentioned above started as tools. Strava started as a tool to track your workout. They added a community feature later.

Some people have a phrase for this: "Come for the tool, stay for the network."

Hope you found this post to be useful!