What the hell is a Zoosk?

As you know, when I don't have any exciting dates or email exchanges to write about, sometimes I review dating sites.  Sure, it's filler, but I like to think I'm doing you a favour by steering you clear of the bad ones.  So tonight I'm reviewing Zoosk.

I signed up to this site a few weeks ago, after I saw one of their commercials.  You probably know the one... she thinks she wants a night of "serious romance" but then she hits her head, his back goes out, and she decides a movie date would be better.  (Click here to watch it.)  Zoosk is an American site based out of San Francisco, and supposedly it was supposed to be the next big thing.

In 2010, Zoosk claimed to have more unique visitors than Match.com, although I'm not sure this differentiates between visitors and people who actually register with the site.  Having searched the site though, it's hard to believe they had 15 million monthly users around March 2011.  (I'm getting these facts from Wikipedia, so don't be impressed by my research skills -- I googled.)  I'd be very interested to know how many Canadian members they have, but if I had to guess, I'd say not many.

My first reaction to the site was, "Wow this site is really... colourful."  The profile part was easy to create and I was able to do so without being a paid member.  The dating pool within Toronto and its surrounding areas seems pretty small, so a quick search didn't come up with anyone I just HAD to message.  Also, I'm pretty sure I've seen many of these men on other dating sites. 

If you're not a member, you can't read emails from anyone beyond the initial one.  I don't really like when dating sites try to lure you into paying money just to satisfy your curiosity.  It definitely works though!  Match.com does a similar thing with their emails, and eHarmony gets you with the curiosity to see what people look like (but lets you communicate, I think).  As tempting as it may be to become a paid member just to read emails, there is one really great reason not to join this site...

The absolute worst thing about Zoosk is that you are sent an email alert when anyone sends you an email.  AND when anyone sends a chat request.  AND when someone so much as views your profile.  I've had so many emails from Zoosk that as soon as I am done with this review, I'm getting the hell of the site.  What's worse, the only way to keep from getting these email alerts is to fully unsubscribe!  Being on the site is just not worth the spam.

I know I said that there wasn't really anyone that caught my eye in my initial search, but a few days ago I was cleaning out my Zoosk inbox when someone definitely did.  It was probably his distinguished dorkiness that I was drawn to -- I kind of have a thing for men in glasses.  As I mentioned above, I couldn't email him back without paying, but this guy did something smart and sneaky.  He wrote out his email address as separate words in his profile, so that I could email him outside the site.  Smart man!

So there you have it.  I really dislike Zoosk as a dating site, but I did happen to meet an interesting fellow.  We've exchanged a few emails but I won't go into it in this post.  This guy definitely deserves a post of his own.