In the wonderful world of Facebook APPs one has risen to the top of the pile – Zoosk.com. Zoosk, based in San Francisco, calls itself a social dating community and has grown more than 16.5 Million users since its launch in December of 2007. With over 1,500 Facebook dating applications it is a pretty crowded vertical for Apps. I can see how website applications like Hot or Not took off on Facebook Apps but I just don’t get how Zoosk made such a run out the gate in such a small amount of time. Zoosk was funded by Amidzad, a technology startup incubator for over 100 companies in Silicon Valley. The Zoosk Platform runs as an application, widget, and embedded feature inside social networks like Bebo, Facebook, Hi5, Friendster and Myspace.
After launching on December 21, 2007, Zoosk boasted 1.8 million installs, with daily traffic ranging in the neighborhood of 200,000 users and 2.5M uniques per month. A lot of growth came on the social networks from the viral mechanisms like invites, access to news feeds, share app to a friend, etc.
In January 2009, nearly 100,000 new users have joined Zoosk each day. New user growth was driven largely among the Facebook community. In addition, 20% of new users joined Zoosk through its website at http://www.zoosk.com. Zoosk is one of the only social dating sites that allows users to seamlessly connect across multiple networks, meaning a Facebook user can interact with a MySpace or Bebo user. Zoosk claims to have made more than 228 million connections for its users already. Users can send messages to others through a wink or a flirt for free. When users send a flirt, they also have the ability to attach a virtual gift, such as a rose or flower bouquet. Virtual gifts are available for purchase with “Zoosk Coins,” which users can buy through Zoosk’s online store.
Zoosk’s Premium Membership allows you the unlimited ability to respond to any flirt, be contacted by any Zoosk member, and can see who has viewed their Date Card. Upgrading members also get premium placement throughout the network, which results in more visibility and ultimately more connections. A Premium Membership will cost you $24.95 per month, with 3-month and 6-month memberships available at discounted rates.
“We receive stories everyday from users who share with us how Zoosk has made it easy for them to meet and connect with someone special for a date or long-lasting relationship,” said Mehr, CEO of Zoosk. “Many never expected they would find a love interest through a social network, but Zoosk’s unique ability to connect people within the context of their online social networks makes it not only possible, but fun, to meet others in that way.”
Zoosk won the 2009 People’s Choice Open Web Award in the “Dating and Romance” category. The application is very easy to use and to search through thousands of photo profiles with their zip code search which shows how far in miles each user is to you. Let us know if you have had any positive or negative experiences with the application and if you have met quality people on the site. I found it to be a very addicting site almost as much as Hot or Not when it first launched years ago. Visit the official Zoosk.com website or Zoosk Facebook App or Zoosk on MySpace (need to be logged in to view).
-Brian R.
3 responses so far ↓
1 loginrogerwilco // Sep 14, 2009 at 7:11 PM
Heh. I had no idea about these apps. Thanks!
2 Al Joulson // Jan 9, 2010 at 10:58 PM
Its metoric rise probably has something to do with those “big boob” advertisement banners they stick everywhere. Gawd, have ya seen those things!?!?
3 jonathan frodsham // Feb 26, 2010 at 7:31 PM
Zoosk can be a bit of a rip off. You have to be very carful if you have premium membership as it will automatically renew and you will be charged. On most sites that have a membership you can cancel on the same day that you signed up and the benefits of you membership will continue until the date expires. Not so with Zoosk: By canceling your premium membership now, you immediately forfeit all your premium membership benefits. If you wish to continue taking advantage of premium membership benefits before the next payment is due, cancel at a later time (before the next payment is due.) So you have to remember to cancel as close as possible to the cut off date. This is outrageous; I view it as a scam. Zoosk says this about it: We hate worrying about paying bills as much as you do. That’s why we automatically renew your membership so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always cancel your membership by visiting the settings page and if you are paying via PayPal, it is a one time charge and will not automatically renew. The above statement from Zoosk is crap, it is only another way to extract money in a sneaky way, but they can not do it with pay pal for technical reasons, if they could they would. They could easily change it so benefits of your membership will continue until the date expires, but they do not as extraction money from you in anyway possible is the goal. The other things to look out for is coins, it will top up automatically if you don’t turn the function off. Zoosk should have the auto-refill set at off, so it you wish you can turn it on. Zoosk say this: We want to make it easy for you to send gifts, unlock conversations, or send a special delivery to that special Zoosker. That’s why we offer the option to automatically refill your Coins balance when it reaches 10 or less, so you have one less thing to worry about. Remember that you can always un-check this option when you purchase Coins by credit card, or by visiting Settings, and then Coins to turn this option off after your purchase. If you are paying for Coins via PayPal or bank transfer, it is a one-time charge and will not automatically refill. One less thing to worry about, what crap, they are hoping you will not notice that you have to turn it off. The price of gifts is outrageous, some gifts are 750 coins, which could cost at the cheapest rate .106 cents per coin would be 750 x .01067= $80. At the high end it would be 750 x.1578= $118.42 that’s eighty dollars for a virtual gift at the cheapest rate. How zoosk can justify such an outrageous price for a virtual gift is beyond me. Its just click spend money, click spend more money. On premium membership all gifts should be free, and charging up to $1.58 for delivery conformation and special delivery up to $2.37 is another rip off. In short Zoosk is a money extraction machine. I sent them an email asking to explain but all I got back from them was a copy paste answer, which did not answer ANY of my questions.
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