Reviewed On: 2/16/2007

Price/Period: $22.94/30 days



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Reviewed by Cupids Reviews Staff

The biggest thing Friend Finder has going for it is that it’s immensely popular. You could expect that from a site that has been around since the Internet became friendly, but it takes a lot to make a name and stay on top of the dating market for as many years as Friend Finder has. This site is worth a look for that reason alone.

“Friend Finder may just be your next great adventure.”

FriendFinder.com is more than just a dating site. It’s an online community. It gives you access to chat rooms that revolve around specific interests or geographic locations, although they weren’t all that active when I dropped by. The chat rooms are open to anyone who’s signed up. If you’re a premium member, you can expand any fellow chatter’s profile to see what she/he looks like and you also have the ability to open private chat rooms. You can also create and read blogs from other users as they share their thoughts on everything from gardening to galactic conquest. They have an interactive magazine which lets you create articles and post your thoughts on other people’s musings. They also offer ‘groups’ which you can form or join that are made up of people that share your interest. Friend Finder goes out of its way to make your online experience as full as can be while also including the chance for romance.

Right away you’ll be surprised by how much access is available to anyone at any level of membership. You can conduct searches by zip code to see who is nearby, respond to paid members emails without having to join the site and you can even see when a member last visited the site. But here things turn for the worst.

You can’t sort you results by last login date, which makes it nearly impossible to get a good idea of the amount of people in your area who are on regularly. Also, when you run searches, you won’t have access to the vast majority of profiles. You’ll have to suffice with small summaries and a tiny thumbnail picture. Not being able to view profiles drastically hinders a person’s ability to make an educated decision on the quality of members on a site. Friend Finder loses ten points for this impediment.

If you want to demonstrate some interest in someone’s profile, you can send him/her a friendly wink. You can add a profile to your hot list and that member will be notified that they’ve become your newest addition. The popularity of a profile can lead to privileged access—even for a standard member.

Silver and Gold level subscriptions offer several advantages: the ability to view and contact all members, unique detailed search options and an e-mailed list of possible matches sent to your offsite address. Both types of premium service appear above standard members on completed searches, have faster profile/photo approvals, as well as customer support. Gold versus Silver goes the extra, extra mile by faster speed in all services, increased storage limits, and it has the most advanced keyword search pull details from any interesting member profiles. Paying for this service spells convenience and fast friends or lovers. There are also extra services like highlighting your profile and allowing all level access to contact your account, which you can get by paying a monthly fee in addition to your membership.

Friend Finder is a site that has earned its stripes. However, there can be a lot going on at times and seems a bit clunky for compared to some of the other leading dating sites. There’s a lot to take in from the start, but if you’re up for the challenge and think the price is right, Friend Finder may just be your next great adventure.

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