You must be familiar with the online dating thing. It happens every day. You may have some friends that do it. Two people meet online, decide to hang in real life, have a good time together and do it again, and again, and again. Sometimes it seems unlikely that this particular experience could happen to you.

However, despite your curiosity, you haven’t been able to convince yourself to try it out. So we are here to answer your some of the queries. There are lots of misunderstandings and fears are running about online dating that prevents people from giving it a try.

So here are few questions with answers to make your vision of online dating clear.

Are people doing it?

When it comes to the internet, there’s not much people aren’t doing. Earlier people use to hide about it, but that’s going away now. If you ask around, you’ll be surprised how many people you know are doing it.

What if someone I know sees my profile? What do you have to be embarrassed?

As we discussed above, more people are doing this than you probably realize. Most importantly, on most of the dating sites, your profile isn’t indeed “Public.” The only people who can see your profile are other people signed up for the same place. So if someone you know sees your profile….well, they’re on the same site too, aren’t they?

Is online dating safe?

Well, meeting strangers can be unsafe. However, before concluding anything consider this, meeting someone online, especially after you have a chance to meet them face to face, is no less safe than meeting someone at a bar or a club. It’s 100% more reliable if you take the necessary precautions like don’t post personally identifiable information (your mobile number or address) on your profile, and only pass it out after you’ve messaged with someone enough to feel comfortable giving it out. Schedule your date for a public place and let someone know where you are, and so on.

Doesn’t everybody lie online?

Whoa! Slow down, people. Sure, it happens like some person adds a few inches to his height or that person hides a few inches from their waistline, and you get a big surprise when you meet in person. However, that guy you met at the party lied about being married, too. People don’t lie because it’s the internet. People lie because sometimes people are dumb. Fortunately, not everyone does the same. Plenty of people out there understand that it’s better to be honest. You’ll have to deal with a few liars, but you’ll quickly learn to read between the lines.

Online dating seems impersonal

Well, that’s not even a question to ask. However, keep in mind that you’re only “online” for a small portion of your interaction with someone. After a few messages, you’re usually out on a date, interacting and meeting in person. That said, the “searching for dates” portion of the process can feel impersonal – looking profiles, scanning their profile pictures, responding to some random messages, etc. However, hello, we do the same thing in real life as well. We walk into a social gathering, size people up, ask who’s single, and so on.

What should you say in your profile? How much should you reveal?

Just one thing, don’t lie! We all try to put forward the best version of ourselves, but try to avoid forming your persona based on success statistics. You’ll have better luck if you’re honest. However, most importantly, don’t over think it. Talk about yourself, who you are, what you like to do. If you’re funny, be funny, but don’t force it. Also, give proper focus to your profile picture. Don’t fill your profile up with boring headshots. Instead, try something active. Choose photos of you doing what you love, with friends and family, and something that shows your face and body well enough for people to know what you look.

What should you say in your messages?

Just like your profile, keep your messages reasonably short. Make sure not to make it so short that it’s generic and useless. Write a couple of sentences about something you saw in their profile that interested you, something about yourself that you share. So we can’t say whether you should look for a date online or not, but we surely can say, with certainty that you won’t know until you give it a shot. Just relax and enjoy it.

You may meet or may not fit your future spouse, but you’ll almost definitely meet cool people and have fun.

PS – Don’t forget to share your experience with us!