Online Dating

1993internet subcultureclassic

Published September 19, 2026

Online dating covers the web services and mobile apps people use to find romantic partners, starting with Match.com in 1993 and expanding through OKCupid, Grindr, and Tinder. The category fed a decade of internet humor, spawning image macros like Dating Site Murderer and callout blogs like Fedoras of OKCupid and Bye Felipe.

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Overview

Beyond the apps themselves, online dating fed a steady output of internet humor through the 2010s. Screenshots of bad opening messages, cringe profile photos, and hostile responses to rejection turned into recurring content on Tumblr, Reddit, and Instagram, with formats ranging from advice-animal image macros to whole archive blogs dedicated to specific dating-app subcultures2.

The tone was usually mockery, letting a screenshot of bad behavior, a weird fetish, or a fedora-in-profile-pic speak for itself. Urban Dictionary entries from the era show the split public read, with some users defending internet love as legitimate and others framing it as a fake teen playdating that ends in cybersex and heartbreak1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Match.com (origin); Reddit / Tumblr / Instagram (meme spread)
Date
1993

The first internet dating site, Match.com, was founded in 1993 by entrepreneurs Gary Kremen and Peng T. Ong as a proof-of-concept for electronic classified advertising systems2. It launched publicly as a free beta in 1995, letting users build profiles with photos and personal information for matchmaking. That template of profile picture plus written self-description set the visual language that later meme formats would take aim at.

How It Spread

Frequently Asked Questions