friendfinder.com is a worldwide site, with a large membership. It is free to join and visitors to the site can see how many members are in their area before they sign up. Members can be any age over 18 but the membership does seem concentrated in the younger age groups, and the majority of the pictures on profiles seem to be of unrepresentatively attractive people. Most of the standard dating site features are available on sign up, and the site provides extra facilities with each level of membership. One thing that makes this site a little different is the fact that members can earn points by referrals, voting in polls, submitting articles etc, and these can be used to upgrade accounts. Main features of the website include:

• Create a profile, including uploading a picture
• Search for potential dates, using a wide variety of criteria (varies depending on membership level)
• Chat rooms
• Video messages
• Blogs – each user can create his or her own
• Horoscopes
• Photo ratings
• Magazine
• Shared interest groups available (for example, music, outdoors etc)

Targeted Membership:

Over 18s looking for any kind of relationship. Members are international and same sex relationships are covered on the site.

Number of Members:

1,749,383 (according to site on 10/24/09) worldwide

Free Membership Levels. Yes

Free Features:

• Create a profile, including uploading a picture
• Search for potential dates, using a variety of criteria
• Read profiles

Restrictions:

• No contact available to free members (unless to a Gold member who has paid extra to allow it)
• Cannot see full size pictures or whole profiles.

Membership Levels and Fees:

• Standard
• Silver
• Gold

Silver:

One month                   $22.94

Three months               $39.94

Twelve months            $99.94

Gold:

One month                   $34.94

Three months               $59.94

Twelve months            $139.94

Paid Membership Features – Silver:

• Advanced search
• Faster profile and approval
• Full size pictures and whole profiles can be seen
• Profile appears above standard members in search results
• Can communicate with other members by email, chat, video

Paid Membership Features – Gold. As Silver, plus:

• Further advanced search options
• Priority profile and picture approval
• Appear top of search result listings
• Free ‘cupid’ emails of new matched members
• Can pay extra to enable Standard members to contact you

Search by Member Options:

Search options vary by membership type but include:

• age
• relationship type
• location
• photo
• membership status
• smoker/non smoker
• interests

Regions:

• Worldwide.
• Many language options available