London's most popular man on Happn tells us how to build the best profile
LONDON -- Being an online dater might bring a wealth of possible matches to your fingertips, but attracting those matches isn't all that simple. That's why carefully crafting your profile is of the utmost importance.
But with no real rulebook for creating the perfect dating profile, it's hard to know what photos to choose and how much info to include in your profile. One chap, however, seems to have got his profile just right, as he's been named the most popular man on Happn in London. He's given us the low-down on how he perfected his profile -- and it's surprisingly straightforward.
Olly Wainwright, the architecture and design critic at The Guardian, was bemused when he received the news. But, his success hasn't come from years of experience in the online dating game. In fact, he's pretty new to it.
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"I only joined Happn in spring last year, after hearing about it through friends. I was totally new to online dating, so left my profile fairly blank. I may be a journalist, but I didn't have a clue how to sell myself in a few snappy lines," says Wainwright.
Keep it simple
Wainwright doesn't have a long bio, or any information about his hobbies and interests. "It just says I'm an architecture critic and has seven photos," he says.
Black and white profile photo
His main profile pic is a black and white photo of Wainwright glancing away and smiling. Simple, yet effective.
No group shots
Wainwright included seven photos of himself on his photos and, interestingly, none of them were group shots. "They're just of me rather than group shots – I didn't want to incriminate my friends!" says Wainwright.
Photos with cats?
"Maybe the secret to success is the photo with the rather alarmed-looking cat? I think people probably want to meet it more than me," he says.
Interesting backdrops
Wainwright included two shots of him in interesting locations that offer insights into his personal interests. "Perhaps people think the amazing concrete house with the swimming pool in one of the other photos is my LA bachelor pad?
"It's actually a building I went to write about: the Sheats Goldstein house by John Lautner, which has appeared in Charlie's Angels and The Big Lebowski," he says.
"The last shot shows that I enjoy lying down. Maybe there's something accidentally subliminal in that?" Time to delete those Where's Wally group shots, perhaps?
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
