No, Craigslist did not invent them.
What are missed-connections? Simply put, a missed-connection is a short message in a newspaper or website that attempts to find a person who had been seen in public by the author. The intent is usually romantic but can sometimes be used to return found property, offer thanks for a good deed, etc.
In this article, we’ll use the term ‘missed-connection’ yet there are two other common names; “I Saw You” and “I Saw U” and now "sighting". In the UK, “I Saw You” is more prevalent, originating from the name of bulletin boards once found in pubs where patrons could leave messages for one another if they were too shy to meet.
The term “I Saw U” is more prevalent in American publications. For example, a Seattle weekly paper named “the Stranger”, ran a popular “I SAW U” section which ran for decades before finally succumbing to the popularity of online missed-connections.
A common misconception is that missed-connections were invented in the modern internet era. In fact, they have been around since at least the mid-1700’s. They became increasingly popular in British and American newspapers throughout the 20th century and only recently made the leap to the internet.
According to a post on Medium by Matt Reimann, one of the first documented missed-connections occurred in 1748:
"In 1748, we already see iterations of the Missed Connections posting, although of a more urbane character, as writers were especially conscious of how public their pronouncements were. In the General Advertiser, a man took out an ad to capture the attention of a “lady, genteely dressed,” whom he saw leading a train of horses. (Steamy!) “This is to acquaint her,” he wrote, “that if she is disengaged and inclinable to marry, a gentleman who was on that occasion is desirous of making honorable proposals."
It’s also been reported that American cowboys left missed-connection messages on the hitching posts in town for those they may have seen or wanted to connect with at the local watering hole.
The early history of missed-connections is a bit scant but they were popular enough that one of America’s most iconic writers, Mark Twain, had this to say in 1867:
"There seems to be a pack of wooden-headed louts about this town,” he snapped, “who fall in love with every strumpet who smiles a flabby smile at them in a street car, and forthwith they pop a personal into the Herald."
Over the decades, popularity has waxed and waned but with the emergence of urban weekly publications in the 1960s and 1970s, popularity soared. The Village Voice in New York hosted one of the first dedicated missed-connection sections named “I Saw You”. It is considered the earliest example of the modern missed-connection phenomenon. After that, missed-connections proliferated in dozens of newspapers and weekly tabloids from San Francisco to London.
In 1999, iSawYou.com (yes, us!) brought the first missed-connections to the internet. Shortly after, craigslist introduced a missed-connection section in their online personals which became quite popular in the United States. While iSawYou.com doesn't share that popularity in the US, we offer missed-connections to Europe and other parts of the world craigslist doesn't cover.
With serious efforts such as craigslist and isawyou.com, together with numerous boutique sites specializing in one geographic location, there are no signs that missed-connections will fade as a way for people to meet. There have been books, comic strips and even movie rights dedicated to the genre and the future possibilities are endless. Stay tuned, or should we say, keep watching...
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The chatty, charming history of personal ads - Timeline
'I saw you' romance ads wildly popular - CNN
Sightings
