This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Manhattan chapter.
- Don’t use your prom pic for your profile picture… Unless you’re 17 and just went to prom in which case you probs should NOT be on Tinder.
- Do set your swiping parameters. If you go to settings, you can change the distance radius and age range of potential matches. Now you can stop swiping left on grandpas in Nantucket while you’re in Miami.
- Don’t write your autobiography. No one is going to read it, and you just took all the fun out of getting to know you online. There’s nothing left to break the ice with!
- Do use pictures that show yourself clearly. Please discard those blurry, over-edited instagrams from 6 months ago. There’s definitely a nicer picture of your pretty face out there. Respect yourself.
- Don’t include pictures of your friends without their permission. There’s an age old saying that goes “Speaking in the 21st century is akin to speaking through a megaphone”. Respect your friends’ personal preferences.
- Do message first. What’s the worse that can happen? Rejection? Guess what, you don’t even know this person so if it makes you feel better it really does not count.
- Don’t just hook-up with the first guy (or girl) interested in you. We get that you’re single and ready to mingle, but make sure it won’t be something you regret. You do have to live with yourself afterwards.
- Do meet a match for the first time in a public place (especially abroad). It is a popular app, and with popularity comes creeps. Your safety comes way before that cute beard in his profile picture.
- Don’t give away your phone number immediately. Give it to a stage-five clinger and we promise you’ll regret it. No one needs Mr. Random calling you 12 times during a 50 minute lecture two weeks after that failed mimosas date in Puerto Rico.
- Do give people a chance. Maybe their profile picture wasn’t perfect or their description was off somehow, but you still swiped right. Now you’re matched. Give them a chance. You never know where the right Mr. Tonight could be hiding.
Now take this piece of advice from Britney and get to swiping ladies!