Young people believe that dating apps are in their “flop era”, which is slang for dying a slow death before being relegated to relative irrelevance.
However, people are yearning for connection more than ever after the pandemic-driven isolation at the beginning of the decade.
Sex-positive dating app, Pure, researched dating trends for some insight into the landscape, and findings show that searches for “online dating etiquette” have increased by more than 268% in the past 30 days.
- 71% of respondents are turned off by poor punctuation and poor grammar;
- 85% think that quick replies are hot;
- 57% hate paragraph texters;
- 66% prefer audio calls to video chats; and
- 30% would love to meet the next day.
Anna Hint, a dating expert at Pure, shared her five lifehacks to help singletons succeed in their online dating game:
1. Mind your grammar: You might not think it’s that important, but punctuation matters. According to our survey, 71% of respondents get annoyed when their match casually skips the question mark at the end of a question sentence or doesn’t know the difference between “their” and “they’re.”
2. Show interest through timely responses: 85% of respondents said that quick replies are a “green flag”. At the very least, it shows that your match is genuinely interested in getting to know you and not just collecting likes or using you as a placeholder match – until someone more interesting comes along. Don’t have time to respond now? Let them know: “So nice to hear from you! I’m a little busy right now, but I’ll message you later and tell you all about it.”
3. Keep it short and sweet: More than half of respondents prefer to send (and receive) several short, consecutive messages instead of one or two paragraphs. Shorter texts allow you to emphasise specific points or ensure your question is seen. Many stories are also best delivered gradually rather than in a one or two screens-long message.
4. Pick up the phone: Video chats are a popular choice on Pure. However, we were not surprised to learn that 66% of the respondents prefer audio calls to video chats, especially if you’re just getting to know each other. It’s more comfortable than video, yet more entertaining than just chatting. We recommend trying video chat or messages before you meet in real life, or for communicating after a date.
5. Plan a date as early as possible: Otherwise, you risk losing interest – the initial excitement might wear off, and you’d be tempted to swipe around to see who else is there. Here’s why we recommend scheduling that date as soon as you can – 74% of respondents believe that the ideal time for a date is within a week since you’ve matched. At least 44% would love for the date to take place in the next two days after matching, and as much as 30% would want to meet you within 24 hours after matching.
