One in five globally use social media for flirting and dating. Who are they and how to target them?
Many would argue that dating has become simpler and easier thanks to online dating. But outside of dating apps/sites, do consumers use social media to flirt and find dates?
Across 18 international markets, one in five globally (22%) say they use social media for flirting and dating according to YouGov Global Profiles – a consumer intelligence tool. Out of these, three in 10 are members of Snapchat (31%), a quarter are either TikTok (25%) or Instagram members (23%), and a fifth are Facebookers (21%).
More than a third of consumers from Vietnam say they use social media for flirting (36%), the highest among all markets surveyed. Data shows about one in five consumers from Saudi Arabia (34%), India (33%), South Africa (32%), Thailand (31%), UAE (30%) and Egypt (30%) will use social media to flirt or to find dates. Singaporeans are least likely to use social media for flirting and dating (14%) in comparison to other APAC and MENA consumers.
In comparison to Canadians, US consumers are more likely to use social media for flirting and dating (19% US vs 12% Canada). However, in the North American region Mexico tops the list with 21%. Coming to Europe, the highest numbers are seen in Poland and Norway (16% each) followed by Germany and Spain (15% each). Britons are least likely in Europe to use social media for flirting and dating with 85% disagreeing, and this score is the most across all markets polled.
Tracing the demographics of consumers who say they use social media for flirting and dating, a little over a quarter are male (27%) and between the ages of 18-34 years (28-30%). Although not a majority, a considerable proportion who say use they social media for flirting are 45-55 years old (21%).
Consumers who use social media for flirting and dating are more likely to not worry about privacy (49% vs 26%) when using the internet and more likely to engage with social media advertisements than the general population (53% vs 29%). Half say they are suckers for anything branded even if it's expensive, nearly twice as much as all adults (50% vs 27%).
Consumers who use social media for flirting and dating are more likely to like spirits (47% vs 25%), indulge in fancy coffee drinks (55% vs 35%) and hit the gym more often (53% vs 29%) than the general population. In comparison to all adults, they are more passionate about tennis (49% vs 24%), cycling (57% vs 33%), women’s football, FIFA Women’s World Cup (54% vs 30%) and prefer watching sports via streaming than live TV (49% vs 29%). When it comes to buying habits, consumers who use social media for flirting and dating are more likely to be impulsive buyers (54% vs 35%).
All of these insights help us build a picture of ‘social media flirters’, helping dating sites and romance-related brands build their marketing strategies.
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Methodology
YouGov Global Profiles is a globally consistent audience dataset with 1000+ questions across 48 markets. The data is based on continuously collected data from adults aged 16+ years in China and 18+ years in other markets. The sample sizes for YouGov Global Profiles will fluctuate over time, however the minimum sample size is always c.1000. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from India and UAE, which use urban representative samples, and China, Egypt, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which use online representative samples. Learn more about Global Profiles.