10 Top Tips on How to Craft the Perfect Online Dating Profile
“I’M REALLY GOOD AT:
Communing with the floor. Don’t know if it’s because my feet are too small or I should just be more aware. Cracks, electric fans, varied human parts and small animals irresponsibly lurking in the open insist on hiding till the last minute to surprise me. This should earn me a spot on that Stan Lee show.”
That was an excerpt from my profile on online dating site called OkCupid. A year ago, I would’ve never even thought of signing up for online dating. But I was in Saudi Arabia and hankering for some entertainment and one of my best girlfriends is a lot more persuasive than a 70% off Groupon deal.
So, I wrote my life summary in about 50 words, answered about 200 questions targeted to help some algorithm find me my most ideal match and browsed through online dating profiles wondering if all these men really believe that listing their entire iTunes library-slash-all the movies they’ve seen since 1994 magically make them appear more attractive.
I hadn’t been on the site long when I saw someone whose smile dazzled me enough to make the first approach, which went something like: Lookit how compatible we are!
Lying. We were a 38% match. However, it did turn into a 7-month period of ridiculous banter and random videos of blind dogs walking into walls (his) until he impulsively decided to come to Manila; forcing us to Skype (I hate Skype) for the first time because he just had to confirm that I am indeed who I say I am and not some 14-yr-old boy. Well, it progressed to a point where three months later he flew to Bahrain to meet my entire family for dinner, so I guess that files us under success rate statistics.
I’m not here to debunk general misconceptions, though. Plenty of people have done that, backed by stats and studies way before I even started writing for public consumption. Up until Groupon girlfriend, no one has really extolled the virtues of online dating to me – and because I’m a partially insufferable know-it-all, I’m sharing my 10 best tips to bear in mind when crafting your own online dating profile. Paying it forward, yo.
10 Top Tips on How to Craft the Perfect Online Dating Profile
10. KEEP AN OPEN MIND
Online dating had an unexplained stigma for me and I reflected on the WHY. Was it because it brought to mind that era of dial-up modems and yahoo chatrooms (Gawd, I’m old) where someone would proposition you in exchange for a green card? Was it because of my conservative Filipino upbringing and the fact that the concept of ligaw is still very much ingrained in my system? Was it because I felt it was too easy and impersonal, therefore cannot be a serious venue to cultivate a real relationship? If you were anything like me, then please go ahead and update your biases. The notion that signing on for online dating is a desperate act was no longer fashionable the year Hillary Duff went on to sing “So Yesterday.”
Manila has so many varied, vibrant night events you could explore when meeting your online date for the first time
9. MIND YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION
I cannot remember the number of times Filipino profiles from Manila describe themselves as “simple.” Is this simply (haha) a reflection of our self-effacing nature? Or just the lack of originality? Folks, try to do justice to your amazing selves with your online presence. Maybe instead of a generic adjective which gives the impression of a lack of personality; try unassuming, or guileless, or ingenuous – I copied those off of a thesaurus just now.
8. HELLO, SUBLIMINAL THOUGHTS
One of the profile captions on OkCupid was “The most private thing I am willing to admit” – to which A LOT answered “That I’m on this site.” Okay, first of all, did we really have to know how embarrassed you are by being on the site so much so you use it as disclaimer? What does that say about your intention for and opinion of the ladies/gents who make up your audience?
I have many gorgeous, talented friends who complain about the lack of variety in the local dating pool – which sounded funny coming from a city populated by over 12 million people
Sweet Caneos is a professional flow artist and pole dancer, who founded the first hula hoop community in the Philippines. She footnote fancies herself an “author” though the only literary work she has done before were 1500-word-minimum spiteful letters to ex-boyfriends.
10 Top Tips on How to Craft the Perfect Online Dating Profile
10 Top Tips on How to Craft the Perfect Online Dating Profile
“I’M REALLY GOOD AT:
Communing with the floor. Don’t know if it’s because my feet are too small or I should just be more aware. Cracks, electric fans, varied human parts and small animals irresponsibly lurking in the open insist on hiding till the last minute to surprise me. This should earn me a spot on that Stan Lee show.”
That was an excerpt from my profile on online dating site called OkCupid. A year ago, I would’ve never even thought of signing up for online dating. But I was in Saudi Arabia and hankering for some entertainment and one of my best girlfriends is a lot more persuasive than a 70% off Groupon deal.
So, I wrote my life summary in about 50 words, answered about 200 questions targeted to help some algorithm find me my most ideal match and browsed through online dating profiles wondering if all these men really believe that listing their entire iTunes library-slash-all the movies they’ve seen since 1994 magically make them appear more attractive.
I hadn’t been on the site long when I saw someone whose smile dazzled me enough to make the first approach, which went something like: Lookit how compatible we are!
Lying. We were a 38% match. However, it did turn into a 7-month period of ridiculous banter and random videos of blind dogs walking into walls (his) until he impulsively decided to come to Manila; forcing us to Skype (I hate Skype) for the first time because he just had to confirm that I am indeed who I say I am and not some 14-yr-old boy. Well, it progressed to a point where three months later he flew to Bahrain to meet my entire family for dinner, so I guess that files us under success rate statistics.
I’m not here to debunk general misconceptions, though. Plenty of people have done that, backed by stats and studies way before I even started writing for public consumption. Up until Groupon girlfriend, no one has really extolled the virtues of online dating to me – and because I’m a partially insufferable know-it-all, I’m sharing my 10 best tips to bear in mind when crafting your own online dating profile. Paying it forward, yo.
10 Top Tips on How to Craft the Perfect Online Dating Profile
10. KEEP AN OPEN MIND
Online dating had an unexplained stigma for me and I reflected on the WHY. Was it because it brought to mind that era of dial-up modems and yahoo chatrooms (Gawd, I’m old) where someone would proposition you in exchange for a green card? Was it because of my conservative Filipino upbringing and the fact that the concept of ligaw is still very much ingrained in my system? Was it because I felt it was too easy and impersonal, therefore cannot be a serious venue to cultivate a real relationship? If you were anything like me, then please go ahead and update your biases. The notion that signing on for online dating is a desperate act was no longer fashionable the year Hillary Duff went on to sing “So Yesterday.”
Manila has so many varied, vibrant night events you could explore when meeting your online date for the first time
9. MIND YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION
I cannot remember the number of times Filipino profiles from Manila describe themselves as “simple.” Is this simply (haha) a reflection of our self-effacing nature? Or just the lack of originality? Folks, try to do justice to your amazing selves with your online presence. Maybe instead of a generic adjective which gives the impression of a lack of personality; try unassuming, or guileless, or ingenuous – I copied those off of a thesaurus just now.
8. HELLO, SUBLIMINAL THOUGHTS
One of the profile captions on OkCupid was “The most private thing I am willing to admit” – to which A LOT answered “That I’m on this site.” Okay, first of all, did we really have to know how embarrassed you are by being on the site so much so you use it as disclaimer? What does that say about your intention for and opinion of the ladies/gents who make up your audience?
I have many gorgeous, talented friends who complain about the lack of variety in the local dating pool – which sounded funny coming from a city populated by over 12 million people
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About The Author
Sweet Caneos is a professional flow artist and pole dancer, who founded the first hula hoop community in the Philippines. She footnote fancies herself an “author” though the only literary work she has done before were 1500-word-minimum spiteful letters to ex-boyfriends.