xgetsthesquare:

OKCupid looked at 500,000 inquiry messages sent between their members (is that legal??) and came up with some interesting conclusions re: digital courtship. The takeaway*:

• While flattery re: beauty/sex appeal can be effective in the face-to-face world, it doesn’t work so well in the digital one (women were largely non-respondent to men who referenced their beauty/sexiness/notness in their messages).
• Men who portray themselves as modest, self-effacing, even insecure are more likely to receive responses
• Men who reference the substance of their recipients’ profiles are more likely to receive responses
• In all, courting in the digital space requires more attention to detail and savvy than what might be necessary in a real life flirtation

*Applicable only to heterosexual pairings.

What Do Women Want?* » Sociological Images