Sydney, Dec 8, 2020 — 2020 might have felt like a bin fire, but Tinder members didn’t write it off. In an unprecedented year, when faced with new obstacles, Tinder members adapted and got creative about how they connected. In fact, in the final months of 2020, messages and use of the Swipe feature on Tinder are up double-digits from the end of February. 

While IRL was on pause, members took to Tinder to share 2020’s biggest cultural moments. We used Tinder to chat, meet, hang out and swap TikToks and shrugs (), all while staying socially and mostly physically distant. Tinder bios were a way for members to show who they are and what they care about, and profiles have never been more creative, dynamic or revealing than they were in 2020. And though they were thrown more curveballs than ever, they still managed to unapologetically be themselves. 

Looking at a year’s worth of Tinder bios, the themes of creativity and resilience stand out.   Here are the 10 most essential trends that happened on Tinder in 2020:

1. Panic buying and loo roll supplies - the new status symbol of 2020. Overwhelmingly this year we flaunted the size of our panic buying stash: mentions of toilet paper saw a 290% increase from the year previous and emojis clogged our profiles (see what we did there?), getting 60x more mentions in March than the month before. Who though, were the people casually flinging a bog roll in their ‘about me’ before the TP crisis was a thing? Just saying... 

2. Tinder was the place to share a collective at 2020. The most-used emoji on Tinder in 2020 was , as members showed uncertainty and ambivalence about the future 

3. Dating went virtual, as the nation locked down. Zoom, Face-to-Face, Passport, or even Animal Crossing (which increased in bios by a whopping 39x since last year) Aussies took connections from IRL to #digital with peak numbers of members taking up video calling and gaming platforms to date, including first dates - like I don’t mean to flex but I have a pro Zoom account  or What if we held hands on Animal Crossing?

4. We found hope, that one day we would ‘Get on the beers’ together. Arguably the war-cry of a generation, with pubs shut and socialising off the cards, Aussies counted down the days they could fulfill plans to once again ‘get on the beers’ / becoming one of the most used phrases in bios - Can't wait until Dan Andrews announces it's time to get on the beers then neck one like Bob Hawke

5. WAP brought unapologetic sex positivity to Tinder bios. In August, WAP quickly became the #1 anthem on Tinder and held through 2020 - Yeah I gotta WAP. Weak. Ass.Pick-up lines

6. Mardi Gras was the last official party of 2020 and we felt the love. Who would have known that this was the last time we'd be kicking up our heels and celebrating for quite some time… 

7. TikTok x Tinder were a perfect match. TikToks on Tinder became a way to share taste (‘Send your favourite TikTok’’), see someone’s moves (Send your best tiktok ) and flex (I’m tiktok famous, so basically a celebrity). TikTok mentions grew 7x from the year previous and peaked in April.

8. We connected despite the nation being on fire. Aussie spirit and mateship shines strongest in our darkest moments, as we reached out to each other during unprecedented bushfires (with mentions in January up x24 times more than September of last year)

9. BLM mattered here too. In June, it became clear that Black Lives Matter to us, and they should matter to our matches too. Mentions of BLM, Black Lives Matter and the emojis jumped along acknowledgements of indigenous and first nations Australians

10. The return of sport gave us the kick we needed. We also let our teams do the talking for us as footy finals finally came to be and an assortment of balls ( that is… mind out of the gutter please), AFL, NRL, Richmond Tigers , Melbourne Storm  all flooded our screens.

10 of the fast-growing emojis on Tinder that capture how we flirted and dated in 2020:

These Tinder one-liners could literally only happen in 2020:

1. I suppose you’re gonna need that easy connection for toilet paper with panic buying, good thing I have access to that

2. Netflix and isolate? I have toilet paper

3. One ply...two ply...three ply....waiting for that re-ply

4. I just want someone to want me like Aussies want toilet paper

5. I'm a handful but my boobs are too so it makes it okay

6. Just looking for someone that will do the tube snake boogie with me

7. Just need a date for my cousin’s Zoom wedding.

8. I’m the kind of romantic who will order you Uber Eats for our virtual date

9. I don’t see anything wrong with the WAP, it’s a song about a cat in the rain.

10. Bought masks during bushfires which I then used for Covid, so I got that going for me

Methodology: All data above comes from Tinder profiles. Data was pulled from Jan - Nov 15 for both 2019 and 2020. Items cited in each list are in no particular order.