You've been told not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s face it: online dating is one big library and you have no intention of reading most of the books. You'll barely spare a glance for the description on the dust jacket.

It doesn’t stop at online dating. You’ve judged professional contacts by their headshots on LinkedIn. You’ve judged your partner’s exes by their Instagram pics. You’ve even judged strangers who disagree with you in the comments section by their chosen profile photos.

Pictures on social networks are users’ opportunity to present themselves and to affect how others judge them, but can a picture tell you anything about who a person really is? Are our judgements accurate?

Getting started with online dating has never been simpler. Where once new users had to fill out lengthy profiles and answer extensive questionnaires, apps like Tinder are increasingly relying on bare-bones profiles and social media integration. Now all a new user has to do to start swiping is sign in with Facebook.

Voila! Your pictures are instantly imported and profile details are already filled out, so you can get straight to what you came for: mindless swiping and superficial judgements of profile pics.

Press pause. Just because you can start dating in 5 minutes doesn’t mean you should. Mastering the art of online dating takes time, effort, and patience (words no one likes to hear in an era of binge watching television and 1-hour Amazon deliveries).

If you want to date with the greatest chance of success, and the lowest likelihood of burnout, you must do these four things before joining a dating app.

When we think of romance, most of us think of scenes from movies or luxurious vacations. What woman doesn’t like getting all dressed up as she waits for her man to take her for a romantic dinner by candlelight, or whisks her away on a weekend getaway near the beach?

While these scenarios are great, they are also expensive, stressful, and a little bit cliché. Instead of impressing your date with how much money you can spend on her or what impressive vacation you can take her on, try thinking a little more creatively. There are plenty of ways to be romantic on a budget, so you don’t put such a dent in your wallet.

Following are some ideas:

It’s no secret that women tend to fare better in online dating than men, at least as far as opportunities. Women receive far more messages and matches compared to their male counterparts, which can be frustrating for guys who are looking for something more serious than a hook up, but can’t seem to get to a match, let alone a first date.

But to be fair, women don’t have an easy time online dating either. They receive many more unsolicited and even offensive messages and texts, including inappropriate photos and abusive or threatening messages, which is why they have to be more selective in who they communicate with.

So, the gap between men and women in online dating has grown even wider, especially with dating apps like Tinder where men can “mass swipe” right on women, hoping to increase their chances of meeting someone special, while women's inboxes are flooded.

Is this the most unconventional dating advice ever?

While most experts encourage you to put more effort into your online dating messages, OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder suggests doing exactly the opposite. And he has the research to back it up.

“OkCupid has records from the pre-smartphone, pre-Twitter, pre-Instagram days — hell, it was online when Myspace was still a file storage service,” he wrote in an article for New York magazine. “Judging by messaging over all those years, the broad writing culture is indeed changing, and the change is driven by phones.”

Alex Williamson knows a thing or two about dating. The 28-year-old joined the Bumble team a few months before launch, and is now the app’s director of creative marketing and brand copywriter. If you’ve seen Bumble’s viral response to a finance bro (also known as "The Connor Letter”), you’ve seen Williamson’s work.

Refinery29 recently sat down with Williamson to get an insider’s perspective on the online dating industry. She shared what she’s learned working behind the scenes at one of the world’s most popular dating apps, offering advice on how to write a bio, how to choose a profile picture, how to identify red flags, and more. Her top tips include: