In the online world, it seems like everything ultimately comes down to personal marketing. How you market yourself on the Internet is a matter of a lot of parts. Some of these parts are the kind that you do actively when you reach out and contact anyone. Another part of what you have to offer online and how you brand yourself is your profiles.
Social media is the first line of defense when it comes to your online presentation of yourself. But of course, this isn’t the only thing you use to present yourself, especially when you’re on personal sites that value anonymity first. People will often show a small taste of themselves on the personal site or app first, and then only become friends on social media after a couple of successful dates.
The Danger of Opening Up Too Much, Too Quickly
When you open up to another person, you’re naturally going to make yourself vulnerable to this person. If they want to use what they know to hurt you, making them know more will just let them put you through more pain. Unfortunately, this is a part of the dating process, and there’s a subtle distinction between “vulnerable and open” versus “just handing ammunition to cruel people.” Online trolls and bullies are at an all-time high because there’s very little that can be done against them.
One thing you can do is to open up about how you feel on a few topics, what you like to do for fun, and other things that can get a conversation started. You can always keep a few issues in reserve for later, such as when you have a solid rapport going on, and you think you’re really connecting with the other person. This cannot be rushed, and it needs to go for a while to work as it’s supposed to.
Being Open to Many Possibilities
There’s a fine line between pandering and being legitimately open and understanding of other people. When you’re open to interracial dating, some people would say you’re “down with the stir.” When you express in your online profiles that you don’t have hatred or prejudice against people for silly reasons, you open yourself up to being racist in the sense of trying to overcompensate.
Unfortunately, the modern world is full of people who are so full of hate that they want to project this hate onto everyone else. You can leave your profile open to all races, or specifically point out a bunch of races that you’re open to dating in the selection areas, without calling attention to it on your profile. By being subtle about this, you don’t paint a particularly large target on your head.
Exposing Just Enough
When you’re online, it’s essential to expose just enough of who you are. By leaving a few things open to interpretation and questions, you give that small amount of mystery that people love to talk about. This is the perfect way to get that coffee date.
