Zoosk is a fun and simply way to meet others in your area. Members can use the service on the website but they also has their own Facebook application, and if you choose, you can sign up to Zoosk through your Facebook account. Facebook will offer you the choice of passing your email to the site, or you can skip this step and enter it yourself on the registration page.

Just provide your email and password on the first page, followed by your location on the next. After completing this step, you’ll be asked to provide some personal details and a Zoosk username. Some of this information is visible to other members on what’s called your “Date Card”. You can add as much detail as you like to your Date Card, including your likes and dislikes, your favorite music and films and who you would like to meet. You can also pick from a list of pre-set “ice breakers”, which are questions that will appear on your Date Card. Simply click any number of these, and anyone contacting you can give you their answers. You’ll also need to upload a photograph. Your profile will be active without a photo however you won’t be able to email other members without one.

If you choose, you can also invite your friends to write testimonials about you. By doing this, your contacts from your Hotmail, Live or Gmail email accounts will be sent a message asking them to write a testimonial for you. To complete this step, you’ll need to provide the password to your email account.

There are two levels of membership on Zoosk, free and premium. Premium members pay a monthly subscription fee, and can access all features on the site and communicate with others without any restrictions. Free members have some basic privileges, can send winks and flirts, and browse profiles. Free members can earn (or purchase) Zoosk Coins. These allow the purchase of certain things on the site, such as gifts, or they can be used to grant chat and email privileges (unlocking e-mail messages for example).

Coins can either be purchased directly with a credit card, or they can be earned, for example, by getting your friends to join to the site. Premium members will only need Coins for special purchases such as gifts, or special delivery emails.

Reviews Facebook, Social Networking, Zoosk

Speed dating: It’s not just for singles anymore.

Taking a page from its social dating network, Zoosk is launching a new approach to speed dating that is designed especially to help entrepreneurs and startup companies make contact with and match up with venture capitalists willing to invest their money. This new concept debuted in San Francisco in early May at the Web 2.0 Expo, and the idea behind it is both unique and potentially a gold mine.

The approach is simple. Startup companies register with Zoosk for the event, during which they will have the chance to “speed date” with several venture capitalists just as singles do during speed dating events. Each startup is guaranteed to receive at least three minutes of uninterrupted, undivided attention from the venture capitalists in the hope of capturing their interest enough to convince them to pursue potential funding agreements in more detail.

Is it going to work? We’ll have to wait and see what kind of results come out of it, but early indications are this unique approach to matching startups and venture capitalists was extremely popular. If nothing else it’s a clever way to latch on to the online dating model of operation and put it to use in an entirely different way. And who knows, maybe the event will produce a profitable “match made in heaven”!

News & Views Dating Business, Facebook, Zoosk

Sometimes I think the whole world is possessed with smartphones, mobile browsing, and building thousands upon thousands of applications to make it easier to stay connected to just about anything via your mobile phone. It should come as no surprise, then, that online dating has “gone mobile” enthusiastically and deliberately. Mobile applications are the hottest ticket around and online dating sites are not about to be left behind.

Any online dating site that wants to compete in the marketplace absolutely must have a mobile “app” available for its users, and just about every major online dating service does indeed have one. SpeedDate, Skout, Radaroo, DateCheck, and Zoosk are a few examples of these rapidly growing and expanding types of services. Even the more mainstream dating sites like Match.com are getting in on the act, putting out apps designed to enhance the experience of their members.

But don’t for a moment think that these companies are doing all of this just to be nice; no, there is a huge amount of money to be made from mobile online dating. In 2007 the mobile dating market was valued at about $330 million, while in 2008 that number jumped to a whopping $550 million; the projection for 2013 is for the value to increase to approximately $1.3 billion. It’s no wonder, then, that online dating services are jumping headfirst into the mobile marketplace.

What does this mean for you? In general, the explosive growth of mobile online dating options works in your favor because it allows you even greater choice and access when it comes to dating. Where you need to be careful, though, is in the added costs. Some sites offer their mobile services for free, while others charge a fee; additionally, depending on your service plan you may get hit with big overage charges for the extra data usage you’ll rack up using these kinds of apps.

The best approach is to read the fine print on the service you’re interested in, check with your mobile phone company regarding your data usage plan, and then start taking advantage of the flexibility and fun of using online mobile dating apps!

News & Views Cell Phone, Dating Applications, iPhone, Match.com, Mobile Phone, Zoosk