FriendFinder Review

When visitors come to FriendFinder for the first time, they often wonder whether it is a dating site or a social network, similar to Facebook. To some extent, it is both. FriendFinder makes a perfect mix of a dating portal and a social network. The site’s goal is to connect people based on shared interests and help new members make friends. At the same time, the site aims to help singles communicate and build a solid background for further romantic relationships.

FriendFinder is suitable for people of all ages, regardless of their marital status, religion, or sexual orientation. Even if you are not looking for something serious, you can register on the site to get into contact with interesting and open-minded people from all over the world. The best thing is that members can communicate here without any promises of a serious relationship. If you tell that you just look for a pleasant conversation in a friendly atmosphere, nobody will blame you for this.

The site creators believe that to build a serious relationship, people first need to connect as mates. They can make a background for something serious after they know each other better. FriendFinder is one-of-a-kind to a certain degree because it is not solely a dating site or a social network. It is a place for people who think that friendship can be a start for a beautiful romance in the future.

When Was FriendFinder Founded?

FriendFinder is a pioneer in the dating world. It dates back to 1996 when online dating was at the beginning of its development. Currently, the platform counts more than 2 million people worldwide, and this number grows every year.

Who Owns FriendFinder?

FriendFinder belongs to the Friend Finder Network. The site operates by Various Inc. in the USA and by Ventnor Ltd. in Europe. Visitors can find the contact information in the lower panel of the home page.

Registration & Profile

Like most dating portals, FriendFinder does not ask its members to waste too much time to sign up to the site. Registration takes around ten minutes and requires several simple steps.

Step-by-step registration

Click on the Signup button in the upper panel of the main page. In the pop-up window, you will need to specify your gender and the gender of your potential matches. Then, you will need to fill in the following fields: your birthday, country of residence, email, and password. The system will also ask you to figure out a username and indicate your marital status and sexual orientation. After filling in all the required fields, you will receive a link on your email for verification. Most of the users admit that they evaluate ID confirmation because it gives them a feeling of security.

There is no option to sign up to FriendFinder through a social media account, like Twitter of Facebook. To some extent, it is so because FriendFinder has features typical to a social network itself. Members can chat, read blogs, participate in forums, and even post their articles.

Profile creation

Profile creation is the second essential step after a successful registration. In general, personal profiles on FriendFinder are not very precise and consist of several simple paragraphs. Users can write a short introduction to present themselves to the audience. There are no restrictions considering the length of this section, so you can give as many details about yourself as you wish. The most common profiles include information about interests or current occupation; some users prefer to specify their religion or political views. As far as FriendFinder is a kind of social net, people are free to write about their social activities and hobbies to find matches among like-minded individuals.

After adding your profile data, it is time to download your pictures. Note that the site policy forbids adding explicit or semi-nude images. All profiles pass verification by moderating experts. The original feature of FriendFinder is an option to download a video introduction. It is not typical to alternative portals, but it makes this site stand higher among competitors. Some members admit that it is much easier for them to present themselves via a camera than to write long essays about their interests and character traits. At the same time, there are a lot of those who prefer the good old model of self-presentation via text.

Communication/Matches

When the profile creation stage is over, it is time to evaluate the benefits of FriendFinder by messaging with other members. Users have several options to chat with other singles: by sending winks, writing instant messages, commenting on posts, and liking profiles. As usual, direct messaging is available at an additional cost.

Free members can express their interest by sending winks. Paid subscription gives more freedom to singles when it comes to chatting. Paid users can respond to instant messages and view full-sized photos of other members. They can watch videos and comment on them to connect with the objects of their admiration. The good thing is that both free and premium members can arrange groups and forums by interests. Communication on FriendFinder resembles that on a social network. One of the disadvantages of this dating portal is that singles do not receive a list of potential matches, automatically generated by the system. Members have to scroll other profiles manually.

How to Search for People on FriendFinder?

One of the weaknesses of FriendFinder is that members do not receive notifications about generated matches; instead, they must search manually. Filters will give you a helping hand. It is essential to adjust filtering correctly to your needs and preferences to make sure that matches correspond to your expectations.

When searching for other singles, you can indicate their preferable age, location, and sexual orientation. These are three elements to complete the search successfully. Paid members can use advanced filters, like searching by appearance, body type, ethnicity, etc. It helps narrow down the search results to a shortlist of the most suitable candidates. Premium members have one more significant advantage over their free co-subscribers: they can view photos in full size, while others can only check the profile images.

How to Delete FriendFinder Account?

If you want to delete your account on FriendFinder, go to the account settings and click on the Delete Account button. Confirm your action, and your account disappears from the site user base.

Members Structure

FriendFinder user base includes people searching for romantic affairs and making new friends. Someone would say that the site is not the right place for those who dream of starting a family and meeting a life partner. The regular site users want to have some fun with people of shared interests.

The dominant part of the site users is men and women from 25 to 36 years old. Most of them are very communicative individuals who want to meet similarly smart and intelligent persons. Many of those who feel shy to contact others in real life think it is easy to make it online. About 80% of all members use FriendFinder as an alternative to Facebook or other social networks. As a bonus, they receive a chance to fall in love and make something more serious than friendship.

Sexual Preferences

FriendFinder is a liberal dating portal to people of different sexual preferences. Newcomers just need to specify their sexual orientation at the registration stage to make sure that they will match with the right person. Statistics show that the male audience dominates over the female one. The most active users are people at the age of 30-35.

Race and Ethnicity

FriendFinder connects people of various races and ethnicity. The site is especially popular among singles in the United States America, Canada, New Zealand, and Europe. Advanced search filters allow adjusting the profile searching process by these parameters.

Religious Orientation

As far as many of the site members come to FriendFinder searching for mates, not only for life partners, they want to connect with people of the same religion. The user base includes people of different faiths, including Christianity, Buddhism, and Judaism. Members can use advanced filters to specify a search if it matters to them. They can also mention this criterion in their profile introduction.

Pricing Policies

What is the cost of FriendFinder membership? This is the number one question among the most frequently asked on the dating forums. First of all, singles should know that they can register on FriendFinder and use their services for free. However, most of the free members say that they experience a lack of messaging features on the site. For this reason, the administration offers to purchase a premium subscription and enjoy all the benefits of unlimited messaging, viewing photos, communicating on forums, and much more.

There are two types of paid subscriptions on FriendFinder: silver and gold. Their cost varies depending on duration.

Cost of the silver subscription:

• one month for $24;
• three months for $45;
• six months for $68.

Cost of the gold subscription:

• one month for $36;
• three months for $60;
• six months for $98.

What is the difference between these two types of subscriptions? Does it make sense to pay a higher price for the gold membership? These two questions are no less popular among site users. A silver subscription gives access to supreme search filters, instant messaging, etc. A gold subscription features all the benefits of the silver membership plus several others: gold members can boost their profiles. Moreover, they have a priority in viewing profiles and can apply upgraded search filters.

The cost of the paid membership on FriendFinder is not very high compared to other dating platforms. On the other side, the site is a mix of dating and social portals. If suggesting that people can use other global networks like Twitter or Facebook to make friends for free, it makes sense to note that the pricing policy on FriendFinder is a little bit overwhelmed.

Free Membership

Free users can search for other members on the site, but they may experience a lack of filters. Nevertheless, free membership on FriendFinder has several great options.

Free options:

• View profiles;
• Send likes to express interest;
• Create groups;
• Post articles and read blogs;
• Report misbehavior;
• Download the introduction video.

Paid Membership

Those who want to evaluate all the benefits of this dating niche can purchase a premium membership with a lot of advanced options.

Paid options:

• Contact other members via emails and messages;
• View full-sized photos;
• Apply advanced filters for a better search;
• Priority in the search results;
• Access to videos of other members;
• Option to contact the Help Center by phone.

Experts recommend starting with a silver membership for those who hesitate to choose the type of the paid subscription. If you like the site and decide to use its services in the future, you can purchase a gold subscription afterward. Gold members receive a top priority in the search results because they can highlight their profiles among thousands of others.

How to Cancel FriendFinder Paid Subscription?

FriendFinder members can cancel their paid subscription after the expiry date. Go to My Subscriptions section in the app menu, and click Delete. If you want to cancel your current silver subscription because you want to purchase a gold one, it is unnecessary to cancel the membership. You can just upgrade your subscription by clicking on the Upgrade Now button.

Is FriendFinder Safe?

FriendFinder is a reputable dating portal; it belongs to the largest dating self-titled network. The site has more than 2 million followers worldwide who admit that they value FriendFinder for its reliable approach to each member. Moderators check the profiles to eliminate the number of fakes. As far as the site has certain features similar to a social network, its administration tends to make the users experience on the portal as safe and secure as possible.

If users notice an aggressive or inappropriate behavior of other members, they can contact the customer support team. Their representatives react quickly to all claims, and you can easily contact them via a chat.

Quality of Profiles

Although profiles on FriendFinder are not extremely detailed, they still contain all the necessary information about each member. Users can come up with a username, write a catchy introduction phrase, and add their best photos (without nudity). What makes profiles more attractive is an option to download a short video introduction. Not all dating portals have the same feature, and the FriendFinder team deserves thumbs-ups for this.

Website Design and Usability

The design is probably one of the weak points of FriendFinder. The site has a pretty simple (not eye-catching) home page, which resembles a screenshot from a magazine but not an originally designed main page of the dating portal. The first impression is that the site creators did not think too long when they worked on the design. However, a not-impressive design does not influence the site’s usability.

The platform operates in ten languages. It does not have many spamming ads that distract the visitors from the main features of this dating platform. The signup and login buttons are visible very well; there are sections of Terms of use and Policy rules in the button of the home page. At the same panel, users can contact the help center and report abuse.

How Does FriendFinder Work?

FriendFinder works as a mix of a dating site and a social network. It helps connect people who have a lot of things in common, and most of the site members use its services to search for mates and friends, but not for true love. At the same, time it is a platform to build serious relationships based on a solid friendship.

FriendFinder App

There is an official mobile app of FriendFinder for iOS. Unfortunately, app developers do not rush to create an application for Android fans. Those who prefer searching for matches using their phones can check the mobile version of the site. It has the same design and navigation features as the desktop variant.

Alternatives of FriendFinder

FriendFinder has a longtime experience in the dating market and an army of devoted fans worldwide. People who use FriendFinder regularly will probably like its alternatives, like Tinder or Cupid. A special feature of these portals is that they connect not only love-seekers but also mates looking for new friends.

Conclusion

People admit that they love FriendFinder for its loyal user base, high profile quality, easy registration, and an experienced customer support team, which is always ready to come to the rescue. The key feature is the site’s original approach to dating: the members can become friends first and build something more serious afterward. The platform is suitable for those people who experience a lack of communication in their everyday life and want to find look-alikes among other singles. Those who think that friendship is a good start for a romantic relationship will evaluate the benefits of FriendFinder.

Contact Information

• Company: Friend Finder Network
• Address: 910 E. Hamilton Ave, Sixth Floor, Campbell, CA 95008, USA
• Phone: (408) 702-1040
• Email: use the sending form at the ‘Help’ section of the site

Isabelle Mason

MS, RD & Writer

I feel like my calling is to help people. For many years I have been improving skills as a professional coach and all of my clients has taken a step forward and changed their life for the better. 19 happy married couples are proof of this!

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