The Scoop: Many dating apps promote the idea that singles should be ready to chat or meet in real life any night of the week. Dating platform Thursday believes that dynamic takes some of the fun out of being single. The Thursday app caters to users willing to meet up on the same day they match: Thursday. If adventurous singles don’t meet with their matches or exchange contact information that day, they can’t find each other on the app again. This feature adds a sense of adventure and exhilaration to a sometimes slow dating process.
A recent Samsung KX study found that more than half of respondents said they waited a month or more before meeting their dating app matches in person. That means they spent at least a month chatting, texting, and talking on the phone before connecting face to face.
According to dating expert Hayley Quinn, that timeline is too long.
“If you exchange a lot of messages with someone, you build up an idea about what they’re going to be like in your head. And if that image doesn’t match up with reality, it can lead to disappointment,” said Hayley.
She also said messaging for too long can build an emotional connection — meaning that a lack of in-person chemistry can be even more devastating.
So Hayley recommends meeting up with potential partners within a week or two after meeting online. She also suggests keeping a night open each week so you can plan spontaneous dates without keeping a potential match waiting too long.
Adventurous singles now have an innovative option for meeting up with matches quickly: dating app Thursday. As its name suggests, singles can only match and meet through the app on Thursdays.
Singles can decide if they want to meet up with a potential partner on the same day they match online. They need to connect face to face, or share other contact information, that day because they won’t find each other on the app again.
“Thursday is designed to get you on a date that day, stopping this back and forth messaging before actually meeting in real life,” said Jess Wreford, Thursday’s Digital Creative Lead.
Singles Can Meet Online and In Real Life in a Day
Lifelong friends George Rawlings and Matt McNeill Love co-founded Thursday — available on iOS and Android —because they were tired of traditional dating apps. They found most singles looking for love were disillusioned by online dating, finding it tedious and difficult to connect with others.
So they decided to shake up the market.
“Dating is not something we have to do. It’s not a chore. Finding a ‘happily ever after’ is not a race or something that should be taken so seriously. We should approach dating like it is something we want to do — something to look forward to!” reads a post on the Thursday blog.
Their first offering was called Honeypot, a location-based dating app that allowed singles to meet up every day of the week.
“When Honeypot didn’t fully take off, they went back to the drawing board. After looking at the data of Honeypot usage, they saw a spike on a certain day which got them thinking, ‘What if the app was limited to that one day a week?’ Voila. Thursday was born,” said Jess.
Jess followed Honeypot and then Thursday in the early days and connected with George through LinkedIn. In the summer of 2021, Jess was working as a freelance video editor and content creator and was approached by George to freelance during their launch period. Following this, she said yes to a full-time job as Thursday’s Digital Creative Lead.
“I was drawn to the company because of its incredibly out-there marketing and revolutionary ideas. As a single girl myself, it was so liberating to see dating be done differently, and the concept made so much sense,” Jess said.
Jess also develops creative marketing approaches for the app.
“There’s one where I sat on a chair in the middle of London with a sign that said ‘Got DUMPED. Hate dating apps. Who wants a spontaneous Thursday date? Got 5 mins? Take a seat xoxo.’ It proved to be very popular, in-person and online,” Jess told us.
Weekly AfterParty Offers a Fun Alternative to Speed Dating
If singles want a date on an upcoming Thursday, they can opt in by toggling their interest on the app’s home screen. Then, the app shows the user’s profile to other singles available and interested on that same day.
After that, singles have a limited time frame to match and chat before the messages and matches disappear at midnight. If matches don’t go on a date that day or set up a way to communicate outside the app, they won’t see each other again on the platform. That adds a level of urgency not available on other dating apps.
In addition to the unique Thursday dating-focused platform, the company also hosts AfterPartys each week, where it takes over bars in London and New York City for singles events. The idea is that everyone at the bar is single, another app feature that encourages singles to meet up in real life.
The app plans to expand its offerings to several major European cities in the coming months. Thursday is currently launching in Manchester, Birmingham, and Bristol with AfterParty events planned in each of those cities in January 2022.
Users don’t have to pay to learn about AfterPartys or use Thursday’s other features, either. Standard membership is free, and signing up gives users 10 likes to use on the 200 people they see on Thursday.
Additionally, the app’s BlackCard is a monthly subscription fee that gives users unlimited likes, allows them to see unlimited matches, and boosts their profiles.
Transforming Thursday Into International Date Day
Thursday’s focus on real-world meetups has paid off for its users. Jess shared the love story of one of her university friends who struggled to connect. She had been single for four years and went on more than 250 dates before trying Thursday.
“On her first Thursday date found the one. She believes that Thursday allowed them to skip the never-ending small talk and get out on a date. Six months later, they’re still together and completely in love,” Jess said.
The app’s one-day-a-week dating focus and limited number of AfterPartys aim to prevent dating burnout. Singles only need to devote one day a week to dating rather than being prepared to go out at any time.
“Being single is not forever, so have fun with it and stop wasting six or seven days of the week on dating apps. And if you have a ‘bad date’? There’s always next Thursday,” the Thursday blog noted.
The company wants to initiate a cultural shift that focuses on Thursdays as date nights. Not only does one day devoted to dating take the pressure off singles, but Thursday is also close enough to the weekend that it helps diffuse some pressure.
“We want to make Thursday International Date Day. Seriously. What if Thursday was the one day a week where anything went for single people, and approaching someone on the street and asking them out wasn’t considered weird?” Jess said with a laugh.
Jess suggests singles can help make that a reality by using the Thursday app, attending an AfterParty, and, for the brave, approaching someone on the street.
“Thursday is more than an app. It’s connecting single people in real life, every Thursday,” she told us.
