PlentyofFish.com - Free online dating
I actually know quite a few people, former co-workers, friends, and family members, who met their future spouses on a dating site or have had a long term relationship (LTR) with someone they met online. People are also less embarrassed these days about admitting to this, when asked that inevitable question, “how did you two meet?”
Plenty of Fish or POF, was founded in 2003 by Markus Frind. POF is still a free online dating site to join and use, but no longer 100% free. In March, 2009 Markus has added a premium paid features to upgrade to a VIP/Serious Member profile which is intended to get your profile more traffic by adding features to make you stand out more. The POF website states, “We are about 5 times larger than any paid site, you will get more messages and interest here than all paid dating sites combined.” Markus Frind still operates Plenty of Fish mostly by himself out of his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia. His girlfriend sometimes helps him out. He just hired his first programmer in May, 2009. Markus makes his money from very lucrative online advertising.
From a New York Times article that interviewed Frind published on January 13th, 2008, “No one heads to Plenty of Fish for the customer service, which is all but nonexistent. The company does not need a support structure to handle members’ subscription and billing issues because the service is entirely advertising-based. For hand-holding, users must rely on fellow members, whose advice is found in online forums. The Dating & Love Advice category lists more than 320,000 posts, making up in sheer quantity what it lacks in a soothing live presence available by phone.”
Markus writes a very interesting blog full of web statistics and his experiences managing Plenty of Fish, called The Paradigm Shift also on WordPress. According to his blog post on June 23, 2008: Normally around 300,000 users from the US log into Plentyoffish every day. The site used to support IM between members, but in April, 2009 he disabled that feature and UserPlane, the company that provided that is going out of business.
If you’re single and looking for romance or activity partners, online dating sites should not be your only avenue for meeting other people, but POF is definitely worth a try as part of your personal marketing mix in your search. As with any potential online or dating situation, beware of sharks.
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