Tinder, Paktor, Skout, Flirt—don’t tell me you have not heard about at least one of these yet by now. And if you have any of these dating apps on your smartphone, then you probably have tinkered around with it enough to at least know how it works. There is no shame in online dating, Modern Filipinas! When it comes to meeting potential partners, even the digital world is a great venue for it now.
If you have been on any dating app for a while now and are considerably eyeing a particular match, here are 3 vital things to remember before going on a date with your online match.
3. Make actual conversations.
Real talk—a lot of flirting comes into play once you match up with someone on a dating app. However, don’t forget that you need to get actual conversations into the mix. If you don’t want to turn your date into a one-night-stand, then you will need to show genuine interest in getting to know your match a little bit more. You are no longer in high school, so it’s going to get tiring after the fifth time one of you asks, “What are you doing?” Pick up on what he shares and build a conversation from there. If you keep running out of things to talk about, then you may not actually be as good of a match as you may have hoped. Chemistry is key – even online.
2. Get your online stalk on.
Hey! You can never be too sure of whom you run across online, right? As much as most of these apps are connected with a social media account (i.e. Facebook), doing a little bit of online stalking or “research”, as I would like to call it, is also good. See if you have common friends, because if you aren’t ready to jump into open water yet, having a few familiar faces attached to the name will help ease your worries and partly validate his authenticity.
1. Meet in a public place.
When you both finally agree to go out, make sure to meet in a public place. Request to meet in an area you’re familiar and comfortable with, as well. Plus, throw all of those first date jitters away because the beauty of online dating apps is that it gives you the chance to talk and find out a little bit more about each other before even meeting each other to begin with.
Have fun on your first date and don’t forget to be yourself! It is the perfect time to see if your chemistry with your online match can translate well offline.