Am I the only one that thinks online dating isn't superficial? Yes you have the pictures but you also have a complete rundown of the persons likes, dislikes, personality, what they do for a living, as well as how attractive they are.
Bribing people is a really good way to get bad dates. You have no idea of your shared interests, personalities, nothing at all to gauge whether you are of compatible attractiveness.
Online dating is certainly a lot less superficial than picking people up in a bar.
I've read somewhere that a significant fraction of modern relationships (a third?) start online. And they tend to be relatively stable. There's clearly something to be said for discussion interests before looking at the picture.
"Start online" does not mean "on online dating". My current relationship started "online" - we met on last.fm and noticed that we went to the same concerts. From there on it's basically a regular dating story.
Bribing people is a really good way to get bad dates. You have no idea of your shared interests, personalities, nothing at all to gauge whether you are of compatible attractiveness.