INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Feb. 11, 2016)- With just a few days until Valentine’s Day, love is in the air. Well, at least for the people with significant others.
Today, being swept off your feet could start with swiping of your fingers. Online dating apps are making the search to find a soul mate more convenient but also more competitive. Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, Happn, OkCupid, Match, eHarmony– the list of dating apps is a long one.
“They’re fun, they’re quick, they’re immediate,” said Amy Owens, a matchmaker with Blue Ribbon Singles.
Owens says when looking for love online, you have to be smart about what goes into your profile. The decade-old rules of writing a personal ad in the newspaper are the same for creating an online profile.
“They weren’t fancy, they weren’t necessarily clever, they were just who they were just open and here it is,” said Owens.
No matter what site you’re using, your profile should always include information about yourself and what you’re looking for in a potential partner.
“Who needs another bad date, who needs another disappointment,” said Owens. Finding the good dates is part of matchmaker Amy Owens’ job.
The decision between a swipe right versus a swipe left is all about the pictures. It’s like trying to make a love connection through digital window shopping.
Owens says the biggest mistake is posting old, perhaps more flattering pictures of yourself.
“Particularly if it`s a woman who had this picture and it’s very different than what the man sees he will never trust her again. She doesn`t have a chance. It is over at that moment,” said Owens.
Owens says the best shots of your face are from an angle and also limit the number of group shots, it can be confusing.
“Is this your dad or your son? Certainly it`s not the last person you were dating!” asks Owens.
According to Tinder’s website, the dating app takes credit for 26 million matches in the last four years. Megan Juchcinski and Connor Lund have the popular Tinder app to thank for their two-year spark.
“The first thing he said to me after our first date was ‘Now if somebody asks where we met what do you want me to tell them?’” said Megan Juchcinski, who met her boyfriend through Tinder.
The two 24-year-olds quickly got used to working the online dating app into their “How we met” story.
“So it’s not quite as maybe embarrassing as it used to be or something like that,” said Juchcinski.
If you do find a connection and want to start a conversation, your first line should never be “Hey” or “How are you?” Owens recommends sending a message commenting about something the person posted in their profile or about one of their pictures.
Some reports suggest there’s more to Bumble and Tinder’s method than just age and location. We reached out to both. We didn’t hear back.
Owens doesn’t put a lot of faith in finding a life mate on Bumble and Tinder. She recommends eHarmony out of all the online dating sites and apps but admits there’s no harm in giving something a shot.
“Try a whole lot of things, the things we are drawn to and see what happens. It might work, it might not,” said Owens.
If you are using any type of dating app or site, use common sense and be careful. Always meet people in public places and never give out your personal information.
