While dating apps like Tinder and Bumble have certainly made dating more efficient, it hasn’t made things any easier.

Case in point: crafting that initial message. Go with a short and sweet “Hey” and you sound disinterested and lazy. However, tapping out a novel to a perfect stranger will get you a one-way ticket to Creeptown.

Fortunately, new research has revealed the key to becoming a Tinder pro. Or at least the key to getting a few more dates than usual.

As reported by Engadget, recent research by Tinder has found that messages containing GIFs are 30 per cent more likely to get a response than plain text messages.

Why? The reason is pretty simple: GIFs make good icebreakers because “people are very attracted to art and things that are visual,” Tinder’s resident sociologist, Dr. Jess Carbino, told Engadget.

Also, they’re not just good conversation starters. The app’s research also discovered that conversations incorporating GIFs lasted twice as long as those consisting of plain text.

Dr. Carbino explained this is likely due to the fact that your choice of GIF says a lot about your sense of humour and pop culture interests. After all, asking “what kind of music are you into?” is boring and awkward. On the flipside, dropping a Drake or Beyonce GIF in a convo is a fun and easy way to see if a person’s pop cultural preferences line up with yours.

So the next time you’re stumped on what to say to a new connection, don’t stress over crafting the perfect sentence. Just drop a sweet GIF and let the little moving image work its magic.

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