There's no doubt that talking is the best way to get to know someone and with online dating that's what you do - share ideas, experiences, beliefs, anything that's important to you - with no distractions. In a few hours, you can get to know someone better than you would in a whole week or month of dating offline.

You can take things slowly, feel out the possibilities, get to know people, and let relationships develop (or not) at a more natural pace than being single one minute and on a date the next. And if things don't work out, you'll have plenty of time to back out gracefully.

With online dating, there's a larger grey area between dating and not dating than there is offline. You can pursue several possibilities at once without earning yourself a reputation or hurting anyone's feelings, to see who emerges as the most likely candidate for your affections.