In Defense of the Like

Having trouble messaging someone that you’re interested in on CatholicMatch?

Like their profile! It's simple, quick, and a lot less stressful to send than a witty icebreaker. If you’re someone who has received a like and not a message, don’t disqualify the sender because you think that they were too lazy to send you a full-length message.

There are many reasons why someone may not have sent you a novel of a message. There are also many reasons why perhaps you should consider shortening up your first message to someone as well.

Many people who use online dating have been doing so for a while. They may have sent heartfelt messages in the past only to have been ignored. After agonizing over the perfect paragraph to send to someone, it can be very disappointing to wait for a week and never even receive a “Thanks, but no thanks” message.

Instead, just like someone's profile to show them that you are, in fact, interested.

Less text=less stress.

There’s another benefit to sending someone a shorter message as well—it’s not as overwhelming for the receiver. Give the person a chance to get to know you before you immediately jump into showering them with admiration and personal questions.

Remember, while you may have read a lot about this person, you don’t actually know them and being overly familiar in your messages can be disconcerting.

If you really are stuck on what to say or are beginning to overthink the whole thing, using the like feature is a great way to just shoot your shot, let the person know that you exist, and then sit back and see what happens. You certainly haven’t lost anything from something t took all of a millisecond to click.

Keep in mind that how you receive an initial like is also important. Please do yourself a favor and at least look over the person’s profile if they liked yours. You may end up liking what you see and can like them or message them back which would give them the green light to think up something to say to you.

Don't knock it until you try it.

I’m sure there are still some of you who cringe at the thought of just sending a like to someone you've never spoken to before, but let me assure you that it’s really not that weird. It’s actually quite normal for our technology and social media saturated culture.

Think of the like as being similar to making eye contact with someone from across a crowded room. Somebody catches your eye; you look back a second time and give them a little smile. This is not an uncommon occurrence in the real world; in the digital realm a like is the closest way to simulate this type of interaction with someone—so don’t be afraid to use it!

You’re on an online dating site. You’ve gotten over that hurdle. Why not use some of the tools provided to you?