How To NOT Get Catfished On Twitter

What’s that? You don’t know what “catfishing” is? It’s being fooled into an online relationship with someone who isn’t who they pretend to be. They’re either lying in part or have made up a completely fake persona just for you! Don’t feel flattered – they’re stalker-quality weirdos.

Who would fall for this? Ask Manti Te’o. HIS fake girlfriend even died! Talk about committing to a role.

As the Internets debate whether or not Te’o was “in on it” (let’s hope he was!), we have some tips to help you avoid your own catfishing adventure.

Check out the #catfish hashtag for all the latest Te’o news (we won’t be rehashing it here). This post is all about YOU and your potentially naive acceptance of online love, not Te’o's made up girlfriend. Whoops.

Here’s the list of warning signs to look out for (and it applies to all social networking hook-ups, not just Twitter):

The screen name she used initially changes a few times. That’s sneaky. Expect that she’ll suddenly have an emergency and need to borrow money.
She posts a bunch of photos claiming to be her, but in some she’s Asian and you’re pretty sure she was white. Listen to that little voice.
He talks to you on the phone, but the conversation is always quick and he won’t give you his number to call him back because it’s “his work phone.” This one is actually an adulterer, but you’re still being catfished. And why would you talk to someone who can’t afford their own phone anyway?
You offer to travel to meet this wonderful woman in person, but there’s always an excuse. It’s a man, baby.
You’re too embarrassed to tell your friends about this “boyfriend” (because even though you’re blinded by love, you find his “exiled Egyptian prince” story hard to swallow).
You’ve heard your friends whisper the word “catfish” when talking about you and your online soulmate.

And finally, if you’ve replied to scam emails and tweets and your computer has crashed more than once because of your propensity to click every link you see – maybe “online” isn’t the right place for you to find a love match. Try bowling.

Oh and don’t get in a relationship with this girl.

And if, despite our best efforts here, you DO get catfished, you can always pitch your story to MTV. They have a whole series on it.

(Catfish image from Shutterstock)

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Tuesday, 25 June 2013

How To Avoid Getting Catfished

Catfished is a phrase that comes from MTV’s show Catfish. And it’s no fun getting Catfished. The show Catfish is a show about online dating. The premise of Catfish is seeing two people who have been chatting online meet each other for the first time, and inevitably, one of the two people looks or acts totally different than they portrayed themselves online. Meeting someone online and then seeing that they look totally different in real life is getting Catfished. This article will help you successfully meet women online and avoid getting Catfished.

Tips To Avoid Getting Catfished:

Don’t talk to women with just one profile picture.

Seriously, how difficult is it to put up a few profile pictures?! It is not that hard for someone to put up two to five profile pictures on their online dating profile. It takes 5 minutes. So if you see someone with just one profile picture it is a warning sign. Why do they just have one profile picture up? Since so many other women have multiple profile pictures up, just avoid chatting with women who only have one picture.

Only profile pictures from the neck up.

A common theme among heavier women online is that they only post pictures of their faces and from their neck up. A lot of women just don’t post pictures that show their body. This can be misleading. When a woman only posts pictures of her face and none of her body you can expect her to be a little (or a lot) heavier than she appears in her profile pictures. A lot of women, in shape and not in shape, post pictures of their body. Kudos to these women. As a result of them posting them body pictures there are no surprises about their body types. Many, many women online are upfront about their body and post pictures of their body. Spend your online dating time chatting with these women.

Someone who refuses to meet.

Another common sign of a Catfishing is when a woman refuses to meet. And to be clear, I am referring to someone who refuses to meet you in a normal period of time. Obviously the majority of women won’t want to meet a day or two after first getting to know each other online. But most women are up for going on a date after four days to a week or two of chatting online. Meeting and going on a date in real life is the point of online dating after all! The women I am referring to are people who refuse to meet after weeks and weeks of chatting and talking online. This is just silly. Someone who refuses to meet after weeks of chatting online isn’t serious about meeting and starting a friendship or relationship. Who knows what these people have in mind after weeks and weeks of chatting by refusing to meet. When someone refuses to meet after chatting online for a long time just stop messaging them and move on. Plenty of women online are willing to meet and go on a date after a week of chatting. No need to spend your time chatting with weird people who refuse to meet in person after an appropriate amount of time getting to know each other online.

Summary

MTV’s show Catfish is funny and entraining, but it perpetuates a negative stereotype about online dating. People watch Catfish and then think everyone who dates online is weird and is disingenuous about what they look like. This really couldn’t be further from the truth about online dating. There are millions of singles online who are honest about their looks and serious about meeting new people for friendships and relationships. Avoiding getting Catfished is very easy and simple. All you really have to do is just ignore people who refuse to meet you after weeks and weeks of chatting online. Most people who do online dating want to meet and find out if they like the other person.

Spend you online dating time chatting with these normal people and avoid the Catfishers.

View the original article here