5 Ways to Make Your Profile Actually Sound Like You

Most dating profiles read like a resume: job title, three hobbies, a photo from a wedding you were a guest at. Technically accurate, completely forgettable. Here's how to fix that.

Write it like you'd talk to a friend, not a stranger.

The fastest way to sound generic is writing in "profile voice" -- overly formal, a little stiff, trying to cover every base at once. Read your bio out loud. If it sounds like something you'd actually say to a person, keep it. If it sounds like a LinkedIn summary, rewrite it.

Specific beats impressive, every time.

"I love to travel" tells someone nothing. "I once got hopelessly lost in Lisbon looking for a bakery and ended up at a stranger's birthday party" tells them a story -- and gives them something to actually ask you about. Specificity is what makes a stranger feel like they already know a little bit about you.

Skip the wishlist bio.

A profile that's just a list of requirements ("must be 6'0", must love dogs, must be spontaneous but also responsible") reads more like a job posting than an introduction. Say who you are first. What you're looking for can come through naturally, or in one honest line at the end.

Use your prompts for range, not repetition.

If every prompt answer is about the same thing -- your job, your dog, your last vacation -- someone only learns one dimension of you. Use them to show a few different sides: something you're curious about, something you're bad at, something that makes you laugh.

Let a comment do some of the work.

Mateable's comment wall means people can say something about your profile before you've even matched. A profile that gives someone an actual opening -- a specific interest, an opinion, a question left hanging -- gets real comments instead of a generic "hey."