Dating expert Jana Hocking. Photo / Instagram / Jana Hocking
Dating expert Jana Hocking. Photo / Instagram / Jana Hocking
As anyone who has ever used a dating app will know, starting a conversation with a prospective partner can be one of the most daunting parts of swiping.
It can be intimidating to know what to say to someone who says they want "good conversation only" and how do you start a chat when their profile has vague only answers or worse yet, nothing at all?
It's a conundrum dating expert Jana Hocking, who hosts news.com.au podcast Kinda Sorta Dating, is all too familiar with.
Speaking on this week's podcast Hocking revealed the two changes she made to her Hinge dating profile that resulted in her getting heaps more attention on the app.
Unlike other dating apps Hinge makes its users answer different questions to show their personality through their profile.
Jana added in a joke that she was looking for someone to compete with on The Block. Photo / Instagram/ Jana Hocking.
"One of the answers to my Hinge profile is, the question was, 'What am I looking for' and my answer was: someone to compete on The Block with me," Hocking told guest Logan Urie, who is the director of relationship science at Hinge.
"Do you know how many responses I get to that? I get all like builders or designers, [saying], yes I want to go on The Block too, let's enter."
Hocking said that she had also had success asking for recommendations via dating apps as everyone always had something they wanted to share.
"Another successful question and answer I had on Hinge that gets a lot of responses off guys the question was, I am currently obsessed with," she said.
She also asked for podcast recommendations and got swamped with replies. Photo / Instagram / Jana Hocking.
"And I wrote back, 'Podcasts, recommend me a good one' and I got such a good conversation starter.
"Because everyone has got a podcast they're obsessed with or they want to find out what yours is because they want to find a podcast to listen to."
Hocking is on two dating apps, writing in a previous column that she believes the taboo around meeting through a phone screen is long gone.
"The rise of dating apps means it's no surprise that we're all finding ourselves at weddings of friends who met on one," she wrote.
"Yep, statistically, people are now more likely to find love and even end up married by jumping on the apps than anything else."
A recent study by the Marriage Foundation found that just 24 per cent of couples met while out and about compared to 29 per cent who met on a dating app.
