Professional matchmaker on how make this Valentine's Day your last one alone
Many Americans are spending this Valentine's Day with "their person." But many others are still looking for the right one.
Three in 10 American adults are single — and 42% of them are looking to date or be in a relationship, according to Pew Research.
In modern times, when people can swipe through endless options of potential partners, the odds of finding "the one" could at times feel out of reach, or even daunting. But professional matchmaker Maria Avgitidis told "CBS Mornings" that most single people are just one degree away — one person away socially — from "their person."
Avgitidis, who founded the New York City-based Agape Matchmaking, said that asking friends to invite you out — so that you can meet their friends — can increase your chances of meeting someone special.
"Friends can make really bad matchmakers," she said. "But ... this is why we don't want to tell our friends, 'When are you gonna set me up?' Instead, tell our friends, 'I need you to invite me when you are out.'"
That's how Avgitidis said she met her husband.
For those who use online dating sites, Avgitidis suggests keeping photos up to date to help keep a potential partner's expectations closer to reality. She suggests that the first photo be the person looking into the camera and smiling, and the second photo be a full body shot.
While photos tend to be the first thing a person sees as they are thumbing through, Avgitidis said that the prompts below the pictures are equally important in attracting the right match.
"When you are online dating, look at your prompts and ask yourself, 'Am I talking about myself? Am I talking about my values?' Because most people what they will say on their prompts is, 'Oh, tell me about the best place we can get a martini,' or, 'I don't want someone who voted this way,'" she said. "Stop. Talk about ... the things you value because this is what's going to attract people to self-select themselves through your prompts."