Show your real side to win love online

Are you seeking love online? Present a positive but not over-the-top glowing profile to increase your chances of success, suggests a new study.

People who are looking for love online are less apt to trust a person with a flashy profile, preferring instead a potential partner who appears not only successful, but humble and real as well, the findings showed.

"We found people want to contact a person who appears to be accurate in what they are saying about themselves online," said corresponding author of the study Andy High, assistant professor at the University of Iowa.

As many as one in 10 people in the US aged 18 and older use online dating sites or a mobile dating app, according to a 2013 study by the Pew Research Center.

For the new study, the researchers created eight online dating profiles -- four men and four women -- with various combinations of two perspectives.

Participants in the new study preferred people whose online persona could be clearly traced to a real person.

That means people want details, not broad generalities, especially about where a prospective love interest works and what he or she does for a living.

"Instead of just saying, 'I write a blog', name the blog and encourage people to check it out," High added.

"The idea is the viewer will think this is a real person," he pointed out.

The researchers also found that people were turned off by profiles that sounded too good to be true. This was especially true for viewers who said they preferred online social interaction.

The researchers presented their preliminary findings at the annual meeting of the National Communication Association.