I got a delightful message from another 50+ year old man:

“I offer romance, respect, and never ending friendship. I have deep experience in many explorations that may interest you. I have lived in Europe and Asia as well as North America. I have virtually explored Mars with a camera I built that landed there. I have invented technology that has touched your life. You intrigue me. I hope you will find my combination of attributes attractive. Please let us meet in person so my passion for life can elevate our conversation to a captivating level!”

I downloaded Tinder for the fun of it.  It’s like boyfriend shopping!!  And you can easily play around it with with your friends while you’re waiting for drinks or food while out.  Granted, a lot of the guys are just looking for a quick hook up, but I’ve had a few fun conversations…that led nowhere.  It’s also a great ego boost.  I’ve had 27 matches since signing up on Friday afternoon, four of whom have sent me a message.  I wish that ratio were higher, but to be fair, I’m not taking the initiative either.  I think part of that is because I like to be pursued, even just a little bit.  If he already knows I think he’s attractive, why not reach out to me?  One thing I also really like about Tinder is that only mutual matches can send you a message.  That’s a lot of saved “wasted” time. 

As for eharmony, I got 25 multiple choice emails from guys.  I’ve responded to 4 and last night reached out to three more of my matches (2 have already replied.)  It’s all multiple choice, which is weird, but I’m seeing where it goes.  At least it requires effort so I’m assuming the guys are looking for something more and a “buddy.”

I’ll keep you posted!

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created by online dating expert Julie Spira to help singles find love from the convenience of their mobile phones. Spira has taken her Online Dating BootCamp a step further by featuring the latest mobile dating apps. Find out more at CyberDatingExpert.com and MobileDatingBootCamp.com.

Follow the contestants at Facebook.com/MobileDatingBootCamp

I have been testing out OK Cupid and How About We…

I find that many of the profiles on OK Cupid are actually real. This is surprising as it is a free service and one would think that it would have more fake profiles. However, considering that How About We is a subscription service, I think it actually had a couple fake girls. Both interfaces are very user friendly as far as updating profiles, searching dates and sending messages.

The principle behind How About We is that users post ideas that dates can respond to. Suggestions are streamed for daters to browse. I did notice another problem where I noticed many of the profiles had the same exact suggestion.

OK Cupid has been around a lot longer, so they’ve been able to perfect their software. I feel it’s fine the way it is, and if they make any drastic changes it would be a mistake. The most interesting feature is the match feature which tries to match dates according to specific dating questions and answers.

I’m hoping to have my first date this week and will keep you posted.

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created by online dating expert Julie Spira to help singles find love from the convenience of their mobile phones. Spira has taken her Online Dating BootCamp a step further by featuring the latest mobile dating apps. Find out more at CyberDatingExpert.com and MobileDatingBootCamp.com.

Follow the contestants at Facebook.com/MobileDatingBootCamp

I’m busy using the new mobile dating apps, Tinder and Let’s Date.

Tinder idea is great.  Connecting you with friends of friends and quick reviewing of potential people.  It’s execution is lacking somewhat.  It’s missing filters.  Many of the users are very young (18-23) and particularly attractive, which doesn’t make sense why they’d be on this app.  I wonder if they got added without their knowing.  The app also doesn’t pull meaningful information in, so it’s hard to know if someone would be a good fit.  Probably errored on too quick to adopt, which means people aren’t committed to using it.  It also doesn’t seem to have much user adoption. I haven’t had much luck connecting with people despite going through quite a few.

Let’s date is actually better for identifying people who could be a match.  It provides easy scrolling of pics and relevant info for making a match.  Given the higher admin burden to sign up, the candidates don’t seem as attractive as those on Tinder.  I’ve noticed you’ve got more artsy and creative types with tattoos and piercings.  Could just be my geography in LA.  I have used the swipe feature where you can point out what you do/don’t like, but it doesn’t really seem to work well.  Takes too much effort too.  I’d really prefer to state my preferences up front and then refine from there.  My guess is the user base isn’t large enough to build it that way.  This is consistent with me getting matches that are 30+ miles away from me.  I couldn’t date someone in Santa Barbara from LA even if they were a supermodel.  I did appreciate the idea of saying X of the next Y people are interested in you.  But when it doesn’t happen, it’s a bit discouraging.  Again probably comes back to not a large enough user base actively using the app.  I do have a friend who met some boys through it, so maybe I need to give it more time.

Online dating expert Julie Spira and I emailed back and forth for a few weeks about my background, what I am looking for in a relationship etc. Last night we had our first phone conversation. We talked again about what sites I had been using for dating and then we went over my profile. First off, Julie told me I had way too many pictures up, I had 13 but she recommended having 5 up. I had always figured the more pictures the better, I am sometimes suspicious when someone only has a few pictures on their profile.

Julie told me not to give everything away in my profile, just to make it a bit of a teaser. I always had a picture of myself in a bikini, which she said is sending the wrong message. I had put it on the site because some of my guys friends that does online dating told me I should. I am looking for a serious relationship- I want to get married and have kids so Julie told me I had to take this picture down. The picture did get me a lot of attention, probably not the kind I am looking for!

We went over the rest of my profile, made some changes that will hopefully help! I am going to to play around on the Tinder and Match.com mobile apps and see how it goes!

Watch our six singles finding love from the convenience of their mobile phones using the latest mobile dating apps.

Vote for your favorite contestant in our video.

Mobile Dating BootCamp is hosted by online dating expert Julie Spira in partnership with Three Day Rule. Visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com to watch the progress of our daters and like us at Facebook.com/MobileDatingBootCamp.

To view more videos, visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com/videos.

See Dating in a Mobile World

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created and hosted by online dating and mobile dating expert, Julie Spira. For more mobile dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

To view more videos, visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com/videos.

See Dating in a Mobile World

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created and hosted by online dating and mobile dating expert, Julie Spira. For more mobile dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

To view more videos, visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com/videos.

See Dating in a Mobile World

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created and hosted by online dating and mobile dating expert, Julie Spira. For more mobile dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

To view more videos, visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com/videos.

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created and hosted by online dating and mobile dating expert, Julie Spira. For more mobile dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.

To view more videos, visit MobileDatingBootCamp.com/videos.

See Dating in a Mobile World

Mobile Dating BootCamp was created and hosted by online dating and mobile dating expert, Julie Spira. For more mobile dating advice, like us at Facebook.com/CyberDatingExpert and follow @JulieSpira on Twitter.