Finding Love on Plenty of Fish

There are thousands of online dating sites to choose from and single daters are casting a wide net on Plenty of Fish.

As the top free online dating site, POF was launched in 2003 and now ranks at the top of the list as the most popular dating site (Source: comScore, December 2012).

Markus Frind, POF’s founder, tells me 1.9 million Americans are logging on to the site a few times daily and more than 24 million messages are exchanged between users every day.

Here are some features and ways to navigate POF to help you find your dream date.

1. Mobile.

According to comScore, POF is also super successful with their mobile app, where they have 67 percent of the market share among mobile dating apps in the U.S.

Their iPhone and Android apps are free to download and simple to use.

Some terrific features include:

2. Meet Me.

Singles can enjoy a slide show of potential online dates and with a quick click of the keyboard, you can say “Yes,” “No” or “Maybe.”

This speeds up the process and if you’re a mutual match, you should take the time to get in touch with someone who captured your eye.

If you’re not sure where to begin your search, click on “Users who want to meet you.”

3. Premium or Freemium?

Although POF is free and supports advertisements, premium members enjoy a lot of extra perks:

• Access to Ultra Match.
• No commercial ads.
• They appear first on the Meet Me feature.
• They can see if emails were read and when.
• They appear more frequently, with the number of people viewing their profile tripling.

The cost ranges from $11.80/month for three months to a discounted rate of $6.78/month if you sign up for one full year.

“POF has a new section specifically for

women, which ranks men by compatibility.”

4. Ultra Match.

This feature shows you who POF thinks you’d be the most compatible with. This is available to upgraded members only and helps you in the crowded digital sea.

For those of you who like filling out questionnaires to determine compatibility, click on the “Chemistry” tab on the top of your profile, where you can let POF help match you with compatible singles based upon the questions you’ve answered.

Categories include: Interdependence, Self-Efficacy, Communication, Sexuality, Preferred Expressions of Affection, Intimacy, Relationship Readiness, Conflict Resolution and Attitudes about Love.

POF’s members have hosted more than 20,000 local events since 2003. Watch your inbox and RSVP to an event near you to meet singles offline.

After all, the goal of online dating is to meet someone offline and ride into the digital sunset together, isn’t it?

7. Most Likely to Date.

POF has a new section specifically for women, which ranks all the men that contacted her, or those she has written to, by their compatibility.

Frind tells me, “If a woman is contacted by 100 men and she leaves the site, we can predict with 17 percent accuracy the man she left the site with.”

He adds, “This is done purely through our matching system and we don’t even look to see if they’ve exchanged more than a message or two.”

I naturally checked out this feature, as it sounds like one could win the love lottery.

I found 85 men on the list I could potentially have a relationship with, if I was single and looking for a long-term relationship.

How does it work? The list is generated by POF’s resident team of Ph.D.s, who are compatibility science experts.

Apparently their research shows 50 percent of the time your future partner is in the top 10.

With this data, who needs a fortune teller?

Are you currently a member of Plenty of Fish? Let us know how you like the site and if you’ve found someone special to date on POF.

Photo source: ggpht.com.