Okay, let me tell you about this thing I tried recently, messing around with my Hinge prompts. I guess you could call it my little ‘hinge prompt’ project. My profile was just sitting there, kinda dead, not getting much action, you know? The prompts I had up were just… bland. Stuff like “My simple pleasures…” and I probably put “coffee” or something equally boring.
So, I figured I gotta change things up. I actually spent a bit of time thinking, like, what kind of responses do I want to get? Not just likes, but actual conversation starters. My first move was just dumping all the old prompts. Blank slate.
My Process: Trial and Error
I started by brainstorming different angles. I thought, maybe I should be super specific? Or maybe really funny? Or maybe just weird? Here’s kinda what I tried:
- The Hyper-Specific Route: I put up prompts like “Debate this: pineapple on pizza is genius, not a crime” or “The best concert I ever went to involved crowd-surfing to a band you’ve probably never heard of.” Stuff that gives people a clear thing to react to.
- Trying to be Funny: This one was harder. I wrote things like “My most controversial opinion is that socks with sandals are peak fashion (kidding… mostly)” or “Looking for someone to help me finish this giant tub of ice cream before it melts.” Cheesy, maybe, but I gave it a shot.
- The ‘Genuine’ Angle: Then I tried being a bit more open. Stuff like “Something that recently made me happy was finally getting my stubborn houseplant to flower” or “I’m weirdly passionate about finding the best cheap eats in town.”
What Happened Next
Alright, so the results? It wasn’t like magic overnight, let’s be real. But things definitely changed. The hyper-specific prompts got the most reactions, easily. Lots of people wanted to argue about the pizza thing, which was actually pretty fun. Started some decent chats.
The funny ones? Hit or miss. Some people got the humour, others clearly didn’t, or maybe my jokes just weren’t that good, ha. Got a few “lol” responses, which is basically a dead end.
The ‘genuine’ ones led to fewer initial likes, maybe? But the conversations that did start from them felt a bit more… real? Like people actually read it and connected with the small detail. Someone messaged me asking for cheap eats recommendations, which turned into a nice back-and-forth.
So, What Did I Learn?
Basically, putting a little actual thought into those prompts makes a difference. Shocker, right? But seriously, just switching from generic stuff to something with a bit more personality, something specific someone can grab onto, that seemed to be the key. It didn’t suddenly find me ‘the one’ or anything crazy, but it made the whole app experience less like shouting into the void.
My main takeaway: Don’t just fill the space. Use those prompts to actually say something, give people an easy way to start talking to you, not just sending a generic ‘like’. Specificity seemed to work better than just trying too hard to be funny, at least for me. So yeah, that was my hinge prompt experiment. Worth doing if your profile feels stale.
