If you are trying to meet your new love online, think hard about the photo you post with your profile. According to a recent analysis by online dating site OkCupid, more men responded to women who posted pictures where they “flirted” with the camera than the women who merely smiled in the picture. And men who post “ab shots” receive more attention than men who don’t.
The website looked at more than 7,000 of its member photos to see which types of pictures received the most messages from other users.
Women who made eye contact but had a more closed mouth “flirting” with their eyes photos received more interest than women who sported big, friendly Julia Roberts-type smiles. Instead, try a more Mona Lisa, mysterious, flirtatious type smile.
The website said that women need to look at the camera no matter whether they are smiling or not. The absolute worst response received is when women look away from the camera smiling.
Conversely, the men who received the best response are the ones who look away from the camera and aren’t smiling. Go figure.
The website said maybe this because women want a little mystery in the man they date. Men who look into the camera and flirt fare OK. Bu men who look away from the camera in a flirtatious way fare the worst – the same as the women, according to this website’s analysis.
A finding that surprised the website administrators was that despite prevailing myths that self photos don’t work, the analysis showed that photos taken with a cell phone or computer fared slightly better than other pictures.
Now back to the men’s “ab shots” – the analysis showed that men with good bodies did best if they took a photo with their shirt off. However, the older you are, the less effective the picture is for some reason, even if your body is superb, according to the website’s analysis.
If you don’t have the Adonis body and are going to keep your shirt on, then it seems that casual clothing does better than sophisticated, dressed up outfits. A collared shirt is fine, but anything more than that doesn’t seem to do well.
The “ab shot” equivalent for women is, of course, the “cleavage shot.”
According to Okcupid, women who show their cleavage get more responses – not a big surprise.
What is interesting is that unlike with men – where the older you get the less effective the use of skin is – with women it is the opposite. In other words, older women who show some skin get a better response than younger women. This also goes against the overall trend whereas women receive fewer responses the older they get.
If you are posting a photo of yourself doing something, you have the greatest chance of getting responses if you are show doing something interesting. The photos of people drinking receive the worst response. Other good “action” shots that generate messages that lead to conversations include photos of you with animals or traveling.
Action photos that fare poorly include ones with the subject in bed, and as mentioned before, drinking.
So put some thought into the photo you are going to use for your online dating profile and you will have a better chance of meeting the man or woman of your dreams.
No comments:
Post a Comment