Gadgetory

all right so I know you came to the Verge's YouTube page to hear about the new pixel phones but today we aren't talking about that instead we are talking about dating apps because us tech nerds deserve love just like everybody else I'm going to help teach you how to get better at dating apps and hopefully help you find some love full disclosure though I'm single too but to be clear it has nothing to do with me and everything to do with all the trash humans in New York City I report on dating apps for the Virg type a pretty clear idea of what makes the dating apps differ from one another how you should pick your best profile photos and how to send the first message so we're going to go through this together and then when you end up meeting the love of your life because of me you can write and thank me so to get started you're gonna obviously need to figure out what dating app you're going to use how much time do you have to dedicate to dating and filling out a profile are you really serious about certain things like religion do you want more of a serious thing or more of a fling there's truly a dating app for everyone you've probably heard of tinder and bumbles but there's also gay dating apps like Grindr and scruff relationship oriented apps like hinge which is what I use coffee meets bagel and OkCupid and religion based apps like J swipe and Christian mingle so there are lots of dating apps the key thing to remember is you just want to use the one where you think the people you want to date are think of dating apps like bars I want to go to a sports bar on football Sunday because I don't really like football but basically dating apps have specific values which affects how they're designed and the communities they create bumble for example prioritizes women's experiences by only allowing women's message first meanwhile hinge thinks messages are more important so it allows people to like a specific thing about another person's profile and comment on it before matching that person will then see your comment and can then decide if they want to match with you to keep the conversation going or skip tinder on the other hand requires both people to match before allowing anyone to message so think about how you want to interact I like to use hinge because I'm looking for a more serious relationship and swiping on tinder feels kind of superficial to me now with that said it takes a long time to fill out your hinge profile you have to include a bunch of photos and answer a bunch of questions but I really appreciate the people who do that because I get a better sense of who they are as actual human beings okay so now that we've picked out our app let's fill out our profile okay first let's talk about photos I've got lots of photos of myself here that I have printed out just like any normal person in 2018 the most obvious rule of thumb here is to make sure your photos actually show off your face and that you don't use a ton of group shots so I have a couple photos like this has to go this should probably go it's definitely gotta go and I love my friends but they gotta go too see ya let's discuss selfies a little bit here selfies are great we all love them but you should not use too many of them on your profile because people who are looking at you want to know that you're a real human in this world so as much as I love this picture it's gotta go now you also want photos of yourself doing activities I'm a tech reporter that's not very exciting but I love to eat so here I am with nachos Here I am with an empty plate anyone who looks profiles should know this girl like Z food last but not least don't have anyone who could potentially be your lover in your photos even if it's your brother or sister if anyone has to look at that photo and be like hmm who is that person no okay so I'm pretty satisfied with the photos we've chosen so I'm gonna move them right over here and on hinge you have to answer prompts one of their prompts is where to find me at the party and there's a bunch of ways you can answer this but some answers are better than others so I talked to the CEO of hinge and he told me that for this prompt lots and lots of people say hanging out with the dog or the cat or whatever which is a financier and cute but honestly it's been done so no this emoji and not on the dance floor I don't really know how people would respond to this and also it's kind of negative so I'm just gonna not do that I'm down to two answers here one of which is pretty positive and the other which is negative and one of them is easier to respond to than the other you really want people to be able to read your profile and have something to say to you without having to think too hard because of that I'm keeping the dips answer I'm from the Midwest I love dips it says a little bit about me and hopefully someone will message me and tell me about their favorite party tip I'm definitely gonna do a burger and show my mom my beautiful project I didn't work today but yeah this is a great profile I'm really satisfied with it now let's talk about messages the advice here is super clear don't rely on basic comments like hey or hi or how was your weekend hinges CEO tells me that a confident statement actually performs 25% better than a question in terms of whether a conversation moves off the app so try a confident statement like I don't know spinach artichoke dip is the best let's assume you're now in a great conversation that's enough to ask someone out on a real date most people just want to know that there's enough to go off conversation wise to actually have a drink or coffee or go on a walk with someone just don't make your first date an entire plan for a day because you might not actually like this person and you do not want to be stuck with them here's my PSA now where I need to say that you need to stay safe out there online dating still means meeting strangers from the internet and that's scary so make sure you tell your friends and family where you're going and maybe even share your location with them if you find my friends or Google Maps definitely make sure they check in with you throughout the night all right so with that said let the games begin all right well thanks for watching I also co-host a podcast called why'd you push that button from the verge which is about all the choices we make with technology so go check that out and there's spinach dip Pizza check my wing the buffalo chicken dip anything can be a dip if you put your mind to it friend Johnny