Friendsreuniteddating.com is a spin off from the highly successful and innovative friendsreunited.com
social networking site. The site claims that due to their existing database
of users of the original site, there is a huge pool of potential partners
(some 50%, ranging in age from 18 to 88) that have crossed over to the
dating site.
The website does not make any huge claims or promises on the likelihood of success for users, but does suggest to have been responsible for many marriages and births since 2005.
To get started, users can register to the site and perform a free search, build a profile with information on hobbies, interests, requirements and preferences; and add a photo, all for free. To gain full access to other profiles, you need to formally subscribe to the site. The website offers flexibility on subscriptions so that you can try it out for one month at the cost of £18.50; three months at £34.50 in total or 6 months at £49.50 in total. These rates are fairly competitive, compared to other leading sites such as match.com and special offers and voucher codes are available from time to time. At anytime, you can remove yourself completely from the site with immediate effect, by contacting the customer service team.
Once you are a full paying member, you can start to use the website functionality which allows users to feel in complete control of their experience of the site. An example of this benefit is being able to hide your photograph, whilst still showing your profile. Then, if you have made contact with another potential partner, you can show your photo on request. Not only is this an added benefit for privacy, it also means that you can keep track of who is viewing your photos and profiles. The functionality also allows users to chat live online with ‘instant chat’ which is a major attraction of the site. The site offers many of the usual features such as a hot list, a profile banning facility plus winks & smiles to send and receive. Most of the functionality is pretty standard and in keeping with competitors. However it has the added benefit of an audio profile option, allowing you to record yourself for others to listen to which is quite appealing.
On the downside, like all search engine sites, the searching capabilities can only be as good as the quality of the information stored. In this case, the profiling questions are very basic; preferences such as ‘favourite Friday night activity’ are great to read when getting to know someone, but there is little in the way of questions (bar a few self assessment questions) to ascertain true personality, passions and beliefs. It is all rather rudimentary compared with other internet dating sites that have recently entered the market.
The usability of the site is good. Easy navigation, fairly quick and with a good ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ section explaining every aspect of the site makes it an attractive option to those who like things to be kept fairly basic and simple. However, the look and feel of the site is not great – it appears dated and too similar in its branding and logo to the original site.
Overall it has an
unsophisticated feel about it and would make any user over thirty feel
old! One cannot help but not take the site very seriously – with
a fun, comfortable approach with basic profiling features (favourite film,
favourite book etc) - for some this could be the perfect way of starting
out in the internet dating world – familiarity of the original site
and ease of use in an unintimidating environment. The site is ideal for
absolute beginners to internet dating, huge fans of the original site
and younger people – or, someone searching for their high school
love!
Visit Friends Reunited Dating Website
