4 Tinder tips for guys

Yesterday, I joined Tinder.

I’m still weird-ed out by the whole virtual dating thing. I find myself forming snap-judgments, which are often unfair. But my biggest beef with Tinder isn’t the culture is perpetuates — it’s that very few dudes are genuine.

Here are a few tips (for the guys, especially) to make your Tinder more successful.

Use your bio effectively. Keep it short. No one wants to dissect a big blocky paragraph of text. Avoid complete sentences — instead, list attributes about yourself or things you like (e.g. Mad Max, Twizzlers, botany). Also, add what kind of relationship you’re looking for. “I’m just looking for someone to hunt the world’s best cannoli with.” “I’m here to DATE.” “I’m looking for a hook-up.” That being said…

Don’t lie. “I’m just new to the area and looking for new friends, haha.” You’re looking for friends… on a dating app? I don’t buy it, and most other girls won’t. That communicates to us that you want to date someone, but you’re using “friends” as a safeguard in case of failure. Be upfront. And be honest about your height, too. It’s not worth lying about.

Here’s an example of a good photo and bio from my friend, Chase.

Choose good photos. That’s the first thing people see — make it count. A few things to avoid:

• Selfies. Selfies in trucks. Selfies at the gym. Selfies in your bedroom. Selfies in your bathroom mirror with your shirt pulled up. And especially selfies that you try to make look spontaneous. What joke could you possibly have told in your bathroom that made you throw your head back in laughter?
• Group pictures. “Okay, is he the tall one in the hat, or the guy with the mustache?” It makes a big difference. At least for your main picture, choose one just of you.
• Pictures with other girls. So, are you dating her? You’re standing too close to be siblings. Cousins? Make she’s just a really good friend? It’s confusing. Don’t do it.
• Pictures with one girl on each arm. I get that having a cute girl on each arm is supposed to symbolize prestige or status. But I’m going to swipe left because I’m concerned you might want to bring them on our froyo date, and that would be uncomfortable.
• The smolder. It takes a real expert to pull it off. Usually you just look concerned and sad, which makes me sad.

Try to have a picture of your face, plus a few more to show you doing cool things, like posing with a cactus or using chopsticks really well.

My Tinder profile has a picture of me with a cow. #goaggies

Be real with us. We want to get to know you. But there are a few things you should avoid.

• Don’t start with “hey.” If you don’t give us something to work with, we can’t work with you.
• Don’t use pick-up lines. That makes us think you’re only here to “pick up” girls, not get to know potential dates.
• Don’t start with “how are you?” That’s something you ask coworkers and classmates, and it doesn’t say much about who we are or what we like.

Do the following:

• Make some reference to why you swiped right. “I see you’re into Comic Con. Did you go to the one a few weeks ago?”
• Tell us about yourself. “I went to Comic Con as Wolverine because my hair was just the right length to style it.”
• Share funny stories. “Yeah, they actually asked me to leave because my claws were made of real knives.”

Overall, just be real. You’ll get a real response and maybe a real date.

— Brenna Kelly is a sophomore majoring in journalism, with minors in political science and multimedia. She mostly writes articles, but occasionally tweets @bckelly8.