NEW YORK, Aug 24 — "Networking” — the practice of making new professional acquaintances — takes time and energy. That’s why some in the workforce like to combine business with pleasure by doing it... on dating apps like Tinder, Bumble or Grindr. Will the practice cast a shadow on LinkedIn?

Nearly 30 years after the launch of the world’s first dating site, three in 10 US adults say they have used a dating site or app at some time in their life, according to a report by Pew Research Centre. But some internet users go to these digital tools not to find a long-term romantic partner, but to meet new people in a strictly professional context.

The idea may strike many as surprising, but it’s becoming increasingly widespread in the United States. So much so that George Arison, CEO of gay dating app Grindr, recently told the Wall Street Journal that he had personally "hired or had a professional relationship with several people [he] met on the app over the years.” More generally, a quarter of Grindr users use it to cultivate their social relationships and, above all, to forge professional connections. "We know people use our app to meet new people in their area and in new towns, and we also have plenty of anecdotal evidence of people making connections contacts that lead to professional opportunities like jobs,” a Grindr spokesperson explained to Business Insider.

Various users explain in social media stories how they managed to land a new job, develop their business or identify potential partners on Grindr or other dating applications. Data analyst Omaralexis Ochoa has used Grindr’s multiple sorting filters, including the "networking” filter, to expand his professional network. "As dubious as it sounds, I’ve actually met a few mentors on Grindr,” he explains in a video posted on YouTube.

Like Grindr, Bumble also offers a feature designed for networking, all the while looking for true love or a short relationship. In fact, the female-oriented platform has drawn inspiration from the world of "career speed dating,” those timed meetings between recruiters and job seekers, to enable its female users in particular to exchange ideas and get to know new people in a (more or less) professional setting. In fact, since women are often excluded from certain decision-making circles where careers advance or not, or don’t dare assert themselves at networking events, many turn to alternative, more female-oriented platforms to build up their professional network.

Putting the networking in social networks

Dating leader Tinder, meanwhile, partnered with the French government in 2022 to facilitate access to the 1jeune1solution (one youth, one solution) online portal, featuring nearly 70,000 summer jobs. For several weeks, French users of the application, aged between 18 and 25, saw advertisements extolling the virtues of the job platform, in between profiles of singles. The initiative was all the more surprising given that Tinder’s user rules state that it is a place to "make personal connections, not biz ones.” With this in mind, the company announced in May its intention to remove the mention of its users’ social handles from their biographies. The aim: to discourage them from using its services to gain followers.

Most sites and apps of this ilk state in their terms and conditions that they are, above all, dedicated to dating. Meetic describes itself as a service in which "singles have all the means to meet other singles ready for a real relationship,” while France-based Happn stipulates that its use is strictly limited to personal and leisure purposes. Another site Fruitz, for its part, says it wants to encourage contact and encounters between users in close geographical proximity, and promotes itself as helping users "meet people that are looking for the same kind of relationship as [them].”

A rather vague description that shows just how much dating sites and apps are heading in the direction of becoming more general social networks. Users turn to them to flirt and look for a mate, of course, but also to make new acquaintances and expand their circle of friends. Nearly one in two American students uses Tinder to make friends, according to a 2016 survey conducted by start-up WayUp and cited by CNN.

Because after all, in many of these exchanges, it’s not uncommon to mention one’s work—as one would do "in real life” (whether one has an ulterior motive or not) — and thus develop contacts and relationships potentially useful to one’s career. And therein lies the paradox and difficulty of networking. It often doesn’t take place at scheduled events, but rather in informal settings such as by the coffee machine, during dinner with friends, or on the web.

When LinkedIn falls out of favour

LinkedIn has made this its niche. Since its creation in 2003, this professional social network has become a hub for networking. Its 930 million users network with the help of more or less inspiring posts on the virtues of failure or risk-taking, and private messages ranging from the simple and direct "I’d like to join your network” to more disconcerting and personal DMs.

But LinkedIn members are finding that the line between business and pleasure is becoming blurred on the platform. Some users are using the platform not to develop their professional network, but rather to try to pick up a date. While this use is prohibited by LinkedIn’s rules, it remains widespread. Justine, a 30-year-old journalist, has experienced it personally. "As part of a story, I had to spend the night in a mountain refuge with a group of people I was interviewing. This gave rise to some cordial conversations, during which some of them indulged in a few dubious jokes. The next day, on my way home, I contacted one of the managers with whom I’d previously chatted on LinkedIn to send him a PDF version of the article in which he was quoted. To which he replied that he’d be in Paris in a few weeks and would like to invite me for a drink”, she explains to ETX Daily Up.

Like Justine, many women have already experienced men making advances or sending inappropriate messages on LinkedIn. More than 90 per cent of American users of the site have already been subjected to this type of behaviour, according to a survey of 1,000 respondents conducted by Passport Photo Online and cited by Fortune magazine. While some have been quick to let the message sender know that their behaviour was inappropriate, others have preferred to distance themselves from LinkedIn. In a job market where inequalities between men and women persist, this could further isolate them.

In this context, some professionals are going to great lengths to develop their network in every possible and unimaginable way. Such is the case of Christian Jones, an American entrepreneur who created a profile on the Hinge dating app with the sole aim of meeting potential customers, according to the Wall Street Journal. But this requires subtlety and, above all, willpower. Users of these sites and applications don’t always welcome the idea of the professional intruding into the private sphere, at a time when the boundary between the two is becoming increasingly blurred in the working world. So you’ll need to be patient — and arm yourself with convincing arguments — if you want to network where others flirt. — ETX Studio