Online Dating Tips

Online Dating Privacy Tips

Online dating has steadily gained popularity since its introduction sometimes in the late 20th Century. It is now regarded as a standard way of meeting a partner. There have been numerous awe-inspiring love stories that started with registering on an online dating site.

Today, about 300 million people across the world are estimated to be active users of online dating sites. But the fact that you must supply personal information as a user puts your reputation at risk. Furthermore, online dating sites haven’t been exactly free of scandals.

There have been enough of them to serve as a warning sign to any willing partaker in the industry. So, while there are numerous benefits to online dating, you still need to protect your online privacy when going about it.

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What is Online Privacy?

In a broad sense, online privacy is the ability to deny strangers access to personal information about who you are as well as what you do. Certain information, known as, Personally Identifiable Information (PII) can be used to identify you.

Such information includes your full name, address, social security number, place of work and title, date of birth, etc. You should be careful before providing such data on any platform.

Furthermore, all your activities on the internet leave a digital trail, and when in the wrong hands, your digital trail can be used to trace you. If you do not want to compromise your online privacy through your activities on dating sites, you would need to take active steps to protect yourself. (Read more)

A Fake Identity isn’t the Answer

Although this sounds more like a dating tip than a privacy protection tip, it is the whole point of this article. If you’re hiding behind a fake account, there would be no use giving you privacy protection tips. Lying about who you are is one of the most unforgivable mistakes you can ever make when searching for a partner online.

So, if you are not ready to let go of some information about you, maybe online dating isn’t for you. With that said, you need to know what you can and cannot afford to reveal.

Tips on Safeguarding your Privacy on Online Dating Sites

1.       Most of the online dating platforms prefer users to have Facebook and linking social media accounts. You should never do this if you want to safeguard your online privacy. Once anyone has your Facebook or Instagram handle, you would be amazed at how much they can find.
2.       Use a different username from the one you would normally use on other platforms. You could also hide your full name from the public and only reveal it to potential matches on your own terms.
3.      Use a different email address for online dating websites. Registering with your first-choice email address makes you vulnerable and also makes your digital trail easily traceable. Furthermore, you should use a unique password for online dating sites. So if it is compromised, it won’t grant anyone access to other accounts.  
4.       You should be careful of the photos you post on these dating apps. While it may be necessary to have a photo of you on your profile, this photo should not be the same as your Facebook profile photo. You should also check the background to confirm you are not revealing more than you should.
5.       Be careful of the people you agree to meet with. It is best you talk via video chat first in order to confirm their identity. You could probably tell them to call you at a popular restaurant close to where they live.

It is true that having to watch your back always could take some of the fun out of online dating. But you cannot afford to be careless either. There are numerous scandals that have tainted the online dating space. You owe it to yourself to be highly cautious about your activities on these sites. 

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