Many online dating articles and products will try to convince you that what you write for your first message is the most important skill you will ever learn. This is true to a certain extent. For sure, what you write in your opening message and in your profile will dictate a lot of your success with online dating, but the single biggest factor is how someone responds to your profile picture.
Your dating profile picture is your “shop window.” It is the very first thing other daters see, and if they like what they see, they might investigate further. If they don’t, then they are likely to move on.
The fact is that we form impressions of others very quickly, and these impressions are not only formed from what we see but also established from such cognitive shortcuts as prejudices and stereotypes. Therefore, in order to attract the interest of others, it is important to get your profile picture right.
Use a photo in which you are displaying a genuine smile, referred to as a Duchenne smile. Duchenne or genuine smiles are those which involve the orbicularis oculi muscle, which raises your cheeks and produces wrinkles around your eyes. Fake smiles, on the other hand, generally tend to be lower-face smiles and may also look slightly asymmetrical.
In terms of illustrating your interests, why not show yourself being creative in your profile picture? For men, creativity is an indicator of creative intelligence, which means they carry good genes. We know that women prefer to have children with men who possess good genes because this means their offspring (by possessing these genes), will be intelligent and therefore have an advantage in life.