Edit: Hopefully this thread will generate some interesting discussions and tips-sharing from each other. Anyway:

Obviously in real life, greetings are much easier to reply to, but in texting, I have no idea how to respond to "empty greetings". I can't use intonation, body language, etc, and being too friendly makes me look desperate due to the longer text in response.
 

For example, in real life:

"Umm hey there. How are you?"

"Oh hey. I'm good, my hair is starting to grey out from waiting in line though (or something relevant to the current situation). Do I know you? (friendly question with a smile)".
 

See, in real life that sounds ok because it's seen as friendliness. She's nervous so you need to talk a bit to ease her. But in text, it's not friendliness, it's "too much word count". She's not nervous, she's hiding behind a screen.

A few days ago, I got away with it because the girl that shot first text didn't send an empty greeting. She asked "So what's the story with this new chapter in life?". She was receptive as well (she was probably in lonely town and trying to chat). In the end she flaked but I learned and relearned a thing or two from you guys.

But recently I got another "first text" (this is on another app that forces women to text first) but it's just a "Hi" followed by a "How are ya".

How am I going to respond to that? I don't intend to chat but just enough to create a small banter that eases her enough to meetup. I just got back into dating and very new to online dating. I know the basic of texting (logistics only, leave convos for meetup, etc) but not in online dating context (eg how to build rapport via texting because you haven't met each other yet).
 

Anyway I hope this thread will also generate some discussion on this problem and how different texting is from real life interaction.

English isn't my first language so I might use some words differently. Just saying, because on a previous thread some guy got salty at me for using the word "supper".