A missed connection is a type of

personal advertisement A personal advertisement, sometimes called a contact ad, is a form of classified advertising in which a person seeks to find another person for friendship, romance, marriage, or sexual activity. In British English, it is commonly known as an adve ...

which arises after two people meet but are too shy or otherwise unable to exchange contact details. The "Missed Connections" section of

Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is a privately held American company operating a classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, gigs, résumés, and discussi ...

gets thousands of ads of this type every month in New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle. The feature was started by

Jim Buckmaster Jim Buckmaster (born August 14, 1962) is an American computer programmer who has been the CEO of Craigslist since 2000. Early life Buckmaster was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He graduated with a bachelor's from Virginia Tech and attended medic ...

, Craigslist's CEO, after he noticed a common type of posting in their personal ads, which he characterized as "you-smiled-at-me-on-the-subway-platform". He sees the format as addressing a common human need and being ideal for romantic comedy, "Missed Connections give people that second chance...They represent persistence in the face of long odds, which definitely adds to their artistic appeal." A variety of such artistic works have been developed including illustrations, movies, plays, poetry and songs. Other major cities have similar columns in Craigslist and their own local media. London's ''

Metro Metro may refer to: Geography * Metro City (Indonesia), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban area with high ...

'' newspaper has a "Rush-hour Crush" column for commuters who exchange glances but nothing more. Many connections are re-established and couples have become married in this way, such as "tall rugby player" and "beautiful lady in the red dress with long brown curly hair". Various websites like

Gumtree Gumtree.com, known as Gumtree, is a British-based online classified advertisement and community website based at Hotham House, in Richmond, London. Classified ads are either free or paid for depending on the product category and the geograph ...

also offer the possibility of reconnecting with missed connections.

Distribution

The nature and location of missed connections have been analyzed. Across the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 2013, the breakdown by gender was: * 59% Man seeking woman * 27% Man seeking man * 13% Woman seeking man * 1% Woman seeking woman In the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, the most common location was public transportation. In the

Pacific Southwest The Pacific Southwest () is a region of the United States. In its broadest definition, it encompasses five states: California, Arizona, Hawaii, Utah, and part of Nevada. The region is one of cultural diversity seen all over. Several major urban a ...

, it was the gym. In the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

, it was the subway and train. In the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

, it was the supermarket. In

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and the Gulf Coast region, it was

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Implementation

The online format for this on Craigslist scrolls so that postings disappear after 45 days. This gives a second possibility of loss as the posting might not be seen in time to reunite the couple. Mobile phone apps such as

Grindr Grindr () is a location-based social networking and online dating application for gay, bisexual, queer, and transgender people. It was one of the first geosocial apps for gay men when it launched in March 2009, and has since become the large ...

or Spotted have been created which facilitate hook-ups between strangers immediately, though these require location data. Protocols for facilitating such encounters more safely have been proposed.

Art, comedy, movies, plays and poems

The topic has been used as a theme by artists and authors. The

New York Transit Museum The New York Transit Museum (also called the NYC Transit Museum) is a museum that displays historical artifacts of the New York City Subway, MTA Regional Bus Operations, bus, and commuter rail systems in the greater New York City metropolitan ...

held a special exhibition of such work on

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring a Christian martyrs, martyr named Saint Valentine, Valentine, and ...

in 2011. Other artistic uses of the theme include ''Missed Connections NY,'' a theatrical presentation of thirteen

vignette Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

s and comic songs performed by the

Upright Citizens Brigade The Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, ...

and the long-running '' Missed Connections: An Exploration into the Online Postings of Desperate Romantics''. One movie was named after the Craigslist feature, ''Missed Connections''. It starred

Sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

's daughter, Mickey Sumner, and opened at the

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

Film Festival in 2012. "Missed Connections," a live, interactive play with magic, conceived for virtual experience, co-written by Jon Tai & Alex Gruhin, performed by magician Jon Tai, and directed and produced by Alex Gruhin, ran from February 2-February 28, 2021 at Chicago's MacArthur and multi-Jeff award winning

A Red Orchid Theatre A Red Orchid Theatre is located in the Old Town district of Chicago, founded in 1993. Kirsten Fitzgerald has been the artistic director since 2008. Notable productions Notable productions include a revival of Sam Shepard's '' Simpatico'' and Eug� ...

, during the Coronavirus pandemic. The show then received a virtual transfer to

59E59 Theaters 59E59 Theaters is a venue presenting a year-round curated program of live theater. The three theater building is located in New York City. It shows both off-Broadway (in Theater A) and off-off-Broadway plays (in Theaters B and C). The complex is ...

off-Broadway in May 2021, as part of a unique co-presentation with A Red Orchid, Kansas City's Oddly Correct Coffee and

John Wesley Harding (singer) Wesley Stace (born 22 October 1965) is an English folk/pop singer-songwriter and author who has used the stage name John Wesley Harding. Under his legal name, he has written four novels. He is also an occasional university teacher and the cura ...

/ Wesley Stace's Cabinet of Wonders. The show, which recouped its investment in less than one week of performances off-Broadway continues to perform virtually, presented by other theater companies across the USA and around the world. The play, a magician’s cosmic love story inspired by the work of

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for hi ...

Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, ; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba a ...

and

Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, and writer. He is a self-described "psychological illusionist" whose acts are often designed to expose the methods of those who claim to possess supernatural powers, ...

, takes 25 audience members on a roundtrip voyage to the stars in search of the invisible thread that connects them all. It received rave reviews from

Chris Jones (drama critic) Christopher or Chris Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film, TV, theatre * Chris Jones (filmmaker) (born 1967), British filmmaker, author, film director, screenwriter and educator * Christopher Jones (actor, born 1941) (1941–2014), A ...

at the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

and Catey Sullivan at the

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(3.5/4 stars).

Pre digital antecedents

Just as "lonely hearts" personal advertisements existed in printed newspapers long before the invention of the internet, so too did "missed connections". The earliest known such advert, at the time called a "Once seen" ad, appeared in

The Tatler ''Tatler'' (stylised in all caps) is a British magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. It focuses on fashion and lifestyle, as well as coverage of high society and politics. It is targeted towards the British upper and upper-middle cla ...

in 1709. An early example of such a once seen ad was placed by a Samuel Reeves, and read "A gentleman who, on the twentieth instant, had the honour to conduct a lady out of boat at Whitehall Stairs, desires to know where he may wait on her to diclose a matter of concern."

References

Citations

Sources

* * *{{citation , title=I Saw You: Comics Inspired by Real-Life Missed Connections , first=Julia , last=Wertz , publisher=Crown Publishing Group , year=2009 , isbn=9780307452610 Dating Journalism Love Romance Craigslist