{"id":14569,"date":"2017-05-15T01:00:38","date_gmt":"2017-05-15T08:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/datemixstaging.wpengine.com\/?p=14569"},"modified":"2021-05-31T13:29:23","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:29:23","slug":"7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

If you\u2019re new to the world of online dating, welcome! Online dating can be a wonderful way to meet great people. Chances are you\u2019ve heard a lot of advice and stories\u2014both good and bad\u2014from your friends. The truth is, online dating is different for everyone, and not all advice applies to every situation. You won\u2019t know what works for you until you try it. As you navigate the waters for the first time, here are seven things you should know as someone who’s new to online dating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. You probably won\u2019t find your ‘perfect match’ right away.<\/strong>
\nUnfortunately, when you join a dating site or download a dating app, you probably won\u2019t be presented with your one true love\u2019s profile right away. If only it was that easy! Dating apps help introduce you to people so you can discover who you want to date, but instant love connections don\u2019t usually happen at first click. You\u2019ll likely browse profiles, chat with people, and maybe even decide to meet some people in person before finding somebody that really intrigues you. But that\u2019s part of the fun! Don\u2019t get discouraged if you don\u2019t find \u201cthe one\u201d right away and just try to enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. It\u2019s normal to try a few different dating apps.<\/strong>
\nNot all dating apps are created equal. Some have you \u201cswipe\u201d through potential dates, saying \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d to many profiles in rapid succession. Others let you take more time to search for matches based on variables like age, location, and interests. It\u2019s totally normal to try out more than one type of dating app to see what you like best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Err on the side of caution.<\/strong>
\nAfter you put yourself out there in the online dating world, it\u2019s important to remember that people aren\u2019t always what they seem<\/a>. Unfortunately, even though most dating sites work to protect their members, there are still scammers out there. If you\u2019re ever unsure about somebody, err on the side of caution. If somebody\u2019s online dating profile seems too good to be true or if they\u2019re dodging meeting you in person, it might be for a reason; they could be lying about something. If somebody sends you a message that makes you uncomfortable or pressures you for too much personal information, you have the option to block or report them. Have fun, but also be careful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Online dating can be incredibly time consuming.<\/strong>
\nOnce you join an online dating site, there\u2019s seemingly no end to how much you can do. It\u2019s fun to search for new people, message potential dates, and tinker with your profile. But there\u2019s also a flip-side to having so many options, and you can easily get sucked into an online dating vortex. If you find yourself spending more time looking through profiles, chatting, and returning messages than actually meeting people in person, it might be time to take a step back and cut down on the screen time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. It\u2019s okay to say no.<\/strong>
\nAs you familiarize yourself with online dating, you\u2019ll quickly realize that you aren\u2019t going to want to date every single person you see. And that\u2019s okay! Don\u2019t agree to a date with somebody just because you feel bad saying no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Kindness counts.<\/strong>
\nYou can say no without being rude. If somebody sends you a message and you\u2019re not interested, there are ways to decline without hurting feelings. We suggest keeping it simple and direct: Hi, thanks for your message, but I think we\u2019d be better suited as friends. Good luck out there!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Remember to be true to yourself.<\/strong>
\nIt’s not a good idea to fill an online dating profile with what you think other people want to read. Instead, be honest with yourself about what you\u2019re looking for in another person. If you\u2019re ready for a serious relationship, that\u2019s great! If your ideal date is making dinner at home and watching a movie, speak your truth instead of pretending to be a big partier. When you fill out your online dating profile honestly, you\u2019ll attract more people who like the same things that you do, and you\u2019ll have a better chance at finding true love that lasts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you’re new to online dating, it’s easy to get intimidated and maybe even feel overwhelmed. Don’t! The power is in your hands\u2014you can date as little or as much as you want, talk to who you feel like, say yes or no, and take breaks too. It’s a tool to help make dating easier, and you’re the one wielding it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some helpful tips to get you started. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":14570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online-dating"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the things you absolutely must know when you're new to online dating? We go through them all so you're prepared to hit the sites and have fun.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are the things you absolutely must know when you're new to online dating? We go through them all so you're prepared to hit the sites and have fun.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Date Mix\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-15T08:00:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-05-31T20:29:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Elizabeth Entenman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoosk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Elizabeth Entenman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating","description":"What are the things you absolutely must know when you're new to online dating? We go through them all so you're prepared to hit the sites and have fun.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating","og_description":"What are the things you absolutely must know when you're new to online dating? We go through them all so you're prepared to hit the sites and have fun.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/","og_site_name":"The Date Mix","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/","article_published_time":"2017-05-15T08:00:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-05-31T20:29:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Elizabeth Entenman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten","twitter_site":"@Zoosk","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Elizabeth Entenman","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/"},"author":{"name":"Elizabeth Entenman","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/37719232af9a226af04654cb30c4bb53"},"headline":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating","datePublished":"2017-05-15T08:00:38+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-31T20:29:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/"},"wordCount":804,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg","articleSection":["Online Dating Articles & Advice for Everyone"],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/","name":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg","datePublished":"2017-05-15T08:00:38+00:00","dateModified":"2021-05-31T20:29:23+00:00","description":"What are the things you absolutely must know when you're new to online dating? We go through them all so you're prepared to hit the sites and have fun.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dq1eylutsoz4u.cloudfront.net\/2017\/05\/15121841\/new-to-online-dating-online-dating-tips.jpg","width":800,"height":600,"caption":"A woman who's new to online dating setting up her profile."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/7-things-know-youre-new-online-dating\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Online Dating","item":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/online-dating\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"7 Things to Know If You\u2019re New to Online Dating"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/","name":"The Date Mix","description":"Dating and Relationship Advice for Today's Daters","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#organization","name":"The Date Mix","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TDM-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/TDM-logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"The Date Mix"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoosk\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Zoosk"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/37719232af9a226af04654cb30c4bb53","name":"Elizabeth Entenman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/avatar_user_79_1523036046-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/avatar_user_79_1523036046-96x96.jpg","caption":"Elizabeth Entenman"},"description":"Elizabeth Entenman is an experienced dating and relationships writer. Based in Brooklyn, she's written about a variety of topics related to online dating, love, single life, and relationships. In her spare time, you'll likely find her somewhere Instagramming her dogs! You can find some of her other work at EliteSingles and SilverSingles. Elizabeth has been working with Zoosk to create engaging content to help online daters make meaningful connections and find lasting relationships.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.elizabethentenman.com\/","https:\/\/x.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/elizabenten"],"url":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/author\/eentenman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoosk.com\/date-mix\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}