When you are searching for that perfect match online, it’s not just your dating profile you need to manage to make a good impression. Any potential date with Internet access and the slightest interest in you is going to do a little social media stalking.
So whether you’ve just signed up to a matchmaking service, or you’ve already made it past the first date, here are the social media no nos it’s essential to avoid.
Don’t use Twitter and Facebook to like or follow lots of free dating sites, even if you are a member of them. Any potential matches checking you out will be able to see the pages or accounts you follow. While a collection of indie films and stand-up comedians will make you seem fun and interesting, a long list of online dating services doesn’t leave the best first impression.
Seen a hilarious online dating profile? Been on a disastrous first date? Resist the temptation to publicly flame the person involved by posting about it. Any potential date checking you out online will be put off by the prospect of being ridiculed for the amusement of your friends.
Don’t update your relationship status on Facebook ever. There is no good time, or good way to do it. Announce your new and improved love life to the world too soon and you’ll look too keen. On the other hand, leaving your status as ‘single’ when you have been dating for a couple of weeks looks like you are keeping your options open. Editing your settings so your relationship status isn’t visible is the easiest way to avoid this dilemma.
Your new beau does not require their own personal online cheerleader. Don’t like, retweet, share or comment everything they post on their social media accounts. You’re revealing how much time you waste on social media watching them, and it looks like you can’t have an original thought of your own.
Don’t forget you are being watched. That’s the nature of social media. If you tweet an article about the perfect wedding venue, upload a beautiful bridal dress to Instagram and populate a Pinterest board with three-tier cakes, anyone who follows your social media activity knows what’s on your mind. Read what you like, but think again about whether you want to draw attention to it.
If you’ve linked your Pinterest account to Facebook or Twitter you may want to unlink it, or make some boards secret.
Don’t communicate affectionate messages publicly. You might think that your friends want to know that you ‘had a great time with a certain someone last night’, but resist the urge for a public boast and contact that ‘certain someone’ privately instead.
Posting every tiny detail about a relationship break-up is a huge dating no no. If you have made the mistake of playing out a painful split on Facebook, now is the time to go back and undo the damage. You can’t erase the memories, but you can certainly scrub away the evidence.
Carefully go through your timeline and photo albums and delete anything that’s best left buried in the past, whether it’s thinly veiled insults directed at your ex, or drunken snaps of you snogging twenty random strangers in one night.
If you are checking out potential dates online, you can be sure someone is doing the same to you. Don’t give away too much about yourself. If you post on multiple platforms be aware that small snippets of information on each site can be pieced together to reveal a lot about you.