Ep. 333: The Gay Bit: LinkedIn Is the New Dating App — Thirst Traps, Scam Texts & Matchmaking

Is LinkedIn secretly the hottest dating app out there? On this week’s Gay Bit, Zach Randles-Friedman ends the week super gay with a campy deep dive into the world’s most “professional” social network, where the job posts are depressing, the headshots are suspiciously gorgeous, and the scammers never sleep.

In this episode:

The LGBTQ+ Professionals group: Why Zach and a friend trade screenshots of impossibly hot “just introducing myself” posts, and whether some of these men are AI (spoiler: one wasn’t)

Zach the matchmaker: The time he slid into a stranger’s LinkedIn DMs to set up his friend Greg, and why an open relationship in another city was a dealbreaker

Equinox Seaport flashbacks: Feeling like a 4 among perfect 10s at 5:30 a.m., plus the mystery of barefoot and shirtless gym guys

LinkedIn’s sad era: Layoff posts, overshare culture, AI-polished resumes, and why LinkedIn is starting to feel a little too Facebooky

Vetting your date: Only about one in five people say they use LinkedIn mainly for job hunting — many are using it to check whether that “Fortune 500 CEO” from the bar is legit

Spam folder safari: 1,317 unread spam emails, domain buyers, fake delivery notices, and the long-lost prince

Wrong-number texts: “Grace” thinks she’s texting Zach’s husband Andrew, and a surprise Australian call that turns out to be an MLM pitch

The big idea: A blind-date matchmaking app — answer a questionnaire, get matched, meet at a coffee shop in Somerville without ever seeing a photo

Plus: Google yourself after this episode. You might be surprised.