Love me Tinder: Dating app dos and don’ts
Recently, I spoke to Meredith Golden, a married mother of two, who, for US$2,000 a month, will take over your dating apps and impersonate you — doing all the matching and messaging on your behalf.
Here are her dos and don’ts for finding a valentine online.
■ Don’t ask someone ‘Hey, what are you looking for?’
Note what kind of relationship you’re looking for in your bio — experts usually recommend doing that — but avoid asking about specific character traits.
■ Keep the conversation moving
A big rule of dating apps is just simple manners, Golden says. “If someone asks you a question, respond and ask a question back,” Golden says, adding that you should respond in a timely manner — back and forth twice a day so that you don’t lose momentum. This one sounds so easy, and yet anyone who’s on dating apps will tell you, it’s apparently very difficult to follow.
■ Be consistent
Golden meets with singles who will say something like “Wednesday’s my dating app day.” It doesn’t really work that way, Golden says. Consistently spend 30 minutes a day swiping and messaging, she notes.
■ After three to four days of chatting, schedule a date or move on
That person who messages consistently, asking about your day, your week, your weekend — over several weeks or weekends — without asking you out? He just wants a pen pal. “They’re on there to boost their ego,” Golden says. “They’re dating app recreationalists. They’re just on it for sport.”
To weed out those pen pals, Golden suggests asking someone out after three to four days of messaging.
■ When you’re scheduling that date, stay in the app
When someone asks for a phone number in an effort to convert the conversation to texting and then schedule a date, there’s a high dropoff rate. “Keep it in the app until you’re scheduled,” Golden suggests.
— The Washington Post