What a Ping Is on Feeld

A Ping is how you tell someone on Feeld, straight away, that you are very interested. She gets a notification, and you can add a personal note unless she has opted out of Ping notes. If she likes you back, a connection is made and the chat opens. Majestic members get one Ping per day, issued at midnight local time with no rollover, and any member, free or Majestic, can buy extra Pings.

A normal like waits quietly for her to decide about you. A Ping does not wait. It alerts her right away that you are very interested.

From there it works like any other connection. If she likes you back, you are connected and the chat opens. If she does not, nothing more happens.

• Majestic members get one Ping a day.
• The daily Ping arrives at midnight, local time.
• Unused Pings do not roll over, so yesterday's is gone.
• Free and Majestic members can both buy extra Pings.

Because the daily one does not carry over, there is no point saving it for a special occasion. Either use it on someone who is worth it today, or let it go.

Bought Pings deserve the same thinking. Each one costs money, so give it to someone you would be genuinely pleased to hear from, not to whoever happens to be on your screen at the time.

The alert gets her attention. The note is what gives her a reason to like you back.

On most of Feeld you cannot say a word until you are connected. A Ping note is the exception, a chance to show her how you talk before she has made up her mind. Some women opt out of Ping notes. In that case your Ping still alerts her, but she only sees that you are very interested, so your photos have to carry it alone.

When the note is open to you, treat it as your opening line arriving early. Everything that makes a good first message belongs in it, only shorter.

a dating coach's view of features like this is mixed, and both halves are worth hearing.

On one side, he says features that bring your like to a woman's attention increase the chance that she sees you at all. That matters with someone who gets a lot of attention and might never come across you otherwise.

On the other side, he warns that singling a woman out puts her on a small pedestal. You have told her you think she is special before she has said anything, and that can come across as eager. His conclusion is that the rest of your conversation then has to be better than usual.

So spend a Ping on the woman you would most regret missing, not on everyone you find attractive. For the rest, a plain like does the job.

Keep the note short and make it about her, not about how keen you are.

My approach is to read a woman's photos and what she wrote before you type anything, and to build your first line from one specific thing she shared. A little playful teasing works better than a compliment, because a compliment only tells her again that you are very interested, which the Ping has already done.

A few rules help:

• One idea only. A long note feels like pressure before she has even decided about you.
• No gushing. The Ping already says you are keen.
• Nothing blunt and sexual, even if her page is openly flirtatious. coach points out that a lot of men lead with exactly that, and that it is usually a turnoff.
• Leave her something easy to answer in a few words.

Once you connect, reply promptly. She has just said yes to a man who told her he was very interested, and a long silence from you undoes that.

Then keep it moving. coach usually gets a woman from the app to her number within four to seven messages, and every one moves toward a plan. Suggest something simple early.

Then, if she is open to it, have a short call before you meet. coach finds it makes a woman far more likely to turn up, and far more likely to arrive glad to see him. A Ping that leads to a week of aimless chat was a wasted Ping. One that leads to a plan was worth every bit of it.