Substack Is Quietly Becoming the Next Dating App—And No One’s Noticing (Yet)
This might be the next underground dating scene—are you in position?
The best dating apps aren’t dating apps at all.
They’re the places where attraction builds organically—where you’re not mindlessly swiping through an endless lineup of people, but instead, quietly noticing someone, clicking on their profile, and suddenly finding yourself deep in their world.
And right now? Substack might be the next big one.
If you were on LiveJournal in the early 2000s, you know the rush of seeing a new post from someone you were secretly obsessed with. If you had a Myspace, you refreshed their profile just to see if they changed their song. And if you were on Tumblr in its prime? You felt the intensity—the way a single post, a well-timed reply, or even just following someone back could shift everything.
The best places for meeting people have never been the ones designed for dating. They’ve been the ones where curiosity turns into fascination—where you start reading someone’s posts, piecing together who they are, and thinking about them long after you’ve closed the app.
Substack is quietly becoming the place for intrigue, mystery, and depth.
For now, it’s mostly writers, creatives, and people who are deeply online. But look closer, and you’ll see something else happening. People are already checking who follows who. They’re noticing when someone new subscribes to their newsletter. They’re clicking through profiles and making quiet judgments. And once you realize that, you’ll understand the potential.
I started noticing it a few weeks ago.
Some of the guys who subscribe to The Vibe Check have profile pics that make me click. Some have bios that actually make me curious. And when I check out what they’re reading? Instantly more attractive. But I’d say only about 5% of guys actually have their account set up. This is your chance to get ahead of the curve.
Picture this. A girl is scrolling through Hinge when she sees something different—a guy with a Substack link in his bio. It’s not a SoundCloud. It’s not a crypto Twitter. It’s something that actually makes her curious. She clicks.
The first thing she notices? He has a hot user pic. A short, intriguing bio. A list of newsletters he’s subscribed to that actually shows some taste. Before she knows it, she’s scrolling through his posts, trying to get a sense of who he is. She hasn’t even matched with him yet, but suddenly, he feels familiar. She’s already a little invested.
Meanwhile, a guy is checking out a girl’s profile and notices she has her Substack linked. It’s not the usual IG handle or half-hearted “send me travel recs” prompt—it’s something that signals she actually has something to say.
He clicks, expecting nothing, but within seconds, he’s deep in her world. She has a few posts—effortless but personal. Her writing is smart, funny, the kind of thing that makes her instantly more attractive. He scrolls through the comments and now, he’s thinking about what he would say if they ever met. She just went from being another Hinge profile to someone who feels real.
A girl who’s interested in someone will 1000% stalk their Substack.
Substack is still an untapped flex, but not for long.
Right now, most people have no clue that it’s becoming a quiet social scene—where who follows you matters, where people are already checking subscriber lists, and where attraction builds before a single DM is sent. The ones who move first will have the advantage. The ones who wait? They’ll be the ones trying to catch up, wondering why they didn’t set this up sooner.
Because here’s what’s about to happen: soon, you’ll be checking someone’s Substack the way you check their Instagram. And when someone clicks on yours? You’ll either have something that makes them intrigued, or you’ll disappear just like every other blank profile.
And this isn’t just for writers. You don’t need to be dropping 1,000-word think pieces to make this work for you. It’s about playing the game the right way. The kind of taste you have, the people you follow, the way you position yourself—it all creates intrigue. And when a girl finds you on Hinge and sees you have Substack? That’s a move. A profile with zero effort gets forgotten. A profile that actually sparks curiosity? That’s how you stand out.
Substack is the next underground social network. If you know how to use it right, it becomes a built-in way to create demand before you even meet.
On Wednesday, I’m breaking it all down inside my paid community, The Underground—how to use Substack as a quiet status play, how to optimize your dating profile so everything works together, and how to make her click before you even match. Upgrade to get the full strategy.
About Lisa Rosen: Hollywood producer turned dating strategist, I give men the playbook for attracting the hottest women—without trying too hard. The guys in my paid community, The Underground, get weekly insider strategies, the secrets to what hot girls really want, and my direct feedback.