The Future Of Free Online Dating And Facebook
Posted on 2024-04-05
Category: Lifestyle
There sure are enough 100% free online dating sites out there and few have the stability, functionality and user base to be worth signing up for...
Sites like plentyoffish.com have reached dizzy heights and continue to grow in the thousands upon thousands of users per day.
Many of these profiles are inactive of course but most large cities have more than enough singles that you can contact.
It’s the first iteration and will of course be upgraded in time. The problem with a free dating site start-up is the low number of initial users. What’s the point in signing up to a dating site with nobody home? Especially when there are number of other alternatives.
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Well the answer is that there probably is very little point apart from the fact that there will be more users signing up every day to join you.
Free dating appeals to many singles who either don’t have the cash or think that paying to email people should be free. Sites like plentyoffish can compete with paid sites because of it’s size. With the obvious popularity of facebook which is also free will free dating sites be thought of as obsolete?
Facebook is not a dating site and would never like to be thought of as one... It’s a place to connect and share with the people in your life. It’s not a place to where you can search for singles in you area looking for casual encounters or discreet relationships.
There will always be dating sites and there will always be free dating sites because the emotions of love and sex and loneliness will always be there.
These sites will grow and evolve into better products, allowing more connection and sharing capabilities but in reality plentyoffish.com (the most basic popular site online) does exactly what it’s users want it to do!
They want to create a quick profile and describe themselves online – they then want to check who is online now and lives close by so that they can get in contact (chat or set up and offline date).
Facebook is set up to be much more than a dating site, facebook is reality online. When you post, or update your status your REAL friends and family actually see it.
Dating sites bring strangers together who have never met – facebook brings friends and family together in one place.
Facebook will continue to be the best online representation of YOU there is...
You will use it as an identification for commenting on other sites. Facebook is authentic, perhaps the most important aspect of the entire structure of facebook is that it’s an honest representation of real life.
So don’t expect dating sites to be going anywhere in the near future. I do think the current free sites should be doing more to help users connect and share using the substantial ad revenue generated.
However because they do not receive monthly subscription payments like the paid sites (eharmony, match.com) they are somewhat growth limited.
100% free dating sites do have the benefit of substantial user signups. Zero friction on signup means there is little reason NOT to sign up for the main free sites. You have nothing to lose and more profiles to browse.
But easy come easy go... If it’s so easy to sign up the user has nothing invested in the transaction apart from the small amount of time it took.
This is why it’s important for free dating sites to add website interaction tools such as forums, blogs and chat as well as sending out regular email updates to remind the free user what they were doing last night.
Facebook has such amazing user retention and return rates because they meet with these REAL people every day and interact with their friends and work colleagues on a day to day basis.
There is accountability intertwined within the facebook setup. Their friends might remind them that they posted / shared a funny video etc...
Facebook needs to work on it’s categorization of users: Dont you think it’s kind of weird if you were to update your status about waking up next to a girl you have never met?
You think twice about sharing this information because you understand who will read it right?
Facebook categorization has to happen soon – eg share with (family, mates, friends , work) etc...
Anyway – free online dating is getting left behind by a more authentic and real experience BUT it will always be a vital part of the web because of it’s ability to connect like minded strangers who would have never met before!