After spending more than S$1,000 on premium dating app subscriptions, one Singapore woman has decided that swiping might not be the answer.
Dionis Liaw, 32, posted a TikTok video on 13 September saying she was turning to the platform to help find a husband instead. She had been actively dating since March and had paid for premium access on several platforms, including Coffee Meets Bagel, Hinge, Bumble, Facebook Dating and Matchcatch.
And unlike the usual TikTok plea for friends to introduce someone, she came prepared with an application form.
She Was Looking for Compatibility, Not Just More Matches
Liaw told Mothership that her frustration with dating apps had accumulated over several months.
The problem, she said, was not simply finding people to match with. It was finding someone whose plans for marriage, children and relationships were compatible with hers.
She described herself as separated with no children and said she hopes to marry again and have two kids.
Her preferred partner should also want marriage and children, be financially stable, have ambition and a provider mindset, not smoke and be fond of cats.
Communication skills are on the checklist too.
Rather than spend months dating someone before discovering that they want completely different futures, Liaw said she prefers to establish major compatibility issues early.
Interested Men Have to Fill In a Form
So, after deciding that the dating apps were not producing the results she wanted, Liaw created an online matchmaking form.
It contains about 20 questions covering basic information and issues such as marriage, children and communication.
Applicants are also asked about things such as whether they would date someone who is separated but whose divorce has not yet been finalised, their preferred timeline for marriage, their views on having two children and, importantly, their feelings about cats.
The form makes clear that submitting an application does not automatically mean getting a reply or a date.
In other words, this is not quite Shopee checkout. Adding yourself to cart does not mean the order has been confirmed.
About 79 People Have Already Applied
The unusual approach appears to have attracted plenty of interest.
Liaw told Mothership that she had received about 79 submissions by 16 September, comprising 65 responses through her original Jotform and another 14 through a newer Tally form.
She said some respondents appeared genuinely serious, while others seemed to be joking.
Her TikTok video had also passed 125,000 views by the time of Mothership’s report, up from more than 78,000 views reported by Stomp shortly after it was posted.
Liaw has since spoken with several of the respondents.
And the TikTok experiment has already moved beyond filling in online forms: according to Mothership, she has a first date arranged with one potential match.
Whether TikTok ultimately succeeds where more than S$1,000 worth of dating app subscriptions did not remains to be seen, but at least the algorithm now has a rather specific assignment.
