You've been exchanging correspondence for a while now and you feel that you've found a great match! You're ready to take your virtual friendship to the next level, but don't have the slightest clue as how to do it. It's simple; flirt a little.
Online flirting is not about dropping one-liners; it's an art form. And an art form cannot be forced. When making conversation, be as natural as possible, just let it happen. Read between the lines of what he/she is saying in their messages to you and then respond to that in an almost suggestive way. By now you should know what their sense of humour is like, so be playful in your replies and be their kind of funny. When offering compliments, do so only if you really mean it – being insincere and dishing out phony compliments can backfire horribly, and after all the time you've spent laying down the groundwork for your friendship, you don't want to ruin things now.
Because you're online, why not make use of the resources at your disposal? Share a link to a story or picture or video that relates to your match's hobbies and interests. It shows that you have actually been paying attention to their conversations and the things they've been telling you. It also gives you more things to talk about, like whether they enjoyed what you'd sent them.
Another way of being playful is asking questions that'll lead your online dating match to think about meeting in person. For instance, asking them if you were to go out to a romantic dinner, where would the two of you go. This puts the idea in their head that you're open to meeting, but that you want the meeting to be more than plutonic.
Once you get a sense that they're open to online flirting (and you will pretty quickly), it's very easy to get caught up in the excitement of it and fire off replies at every opportunity. Don't. Maintain a certain level of mystery and aloofness that keeps them interested in the conversations but that doesn't lead them to believe that you've gotten bored and moved on.
Online flirting is probably the only way you'll ever get to stop yourself from blurting out those embarrassing remarks or lame comments. When having a face-to-face conversation, we're often forced to say the first thing that comes to mind to avoid those awkward silences. But the nature of online conversations allows you to censor everything you say. So make the most of this perfect opportunity at self-censorship and have fun flirting online.
