Yay for another Zoosk.com success story!

Congratulations Tiana and Daniel from Columbus, Ohio, for finding each other on Zoosk! Without further ado, behold their adorable love story, sent to us from lovely Tiana herself:

I met my dream man (and hopefully one day my husband) here on Zoosk on Christmas Eve, 2009. I had just gotten out of a 3-year relationship with my daughter’s father and decided to see what Zoosk was about! So I set up my profile and started to get winks and messages. I saw Daniel’s profile and was instantly attracted to him!  He had no shirt on and was covered in tattoos (and tattoos are really hot to me)!

The only problem was that I didn’t know if he would be interested in dating a black woman with two kids, knowing that he had no kids and that I was 4 years older. But I decided to leave him a message and I told him that I thought he was hot and that I loved his ink!  Well the next day, Christmas, I checked my messages and didn’t expect to hear anything from him. But there it was! A message from Daniel telling me that he thought I was a sexy chocolate mama! So that made me smile, of course.

So we started chatting on Facebook. Daniel told me wasn’t looking for a relationship at that time because he himself had also just gotten out of a three-year relationship too.  Neither of us had been involved with anyone for 8 months. He was more looking for a friend and I was okay with that. Since this was over the Christmas holidays, Daniel was in Tennessee at the time visiting family, while I was in Ohio. He told me that he would be coming back to Ohio within a week. He left me his number, but I didn’t call right away. When I finally called, his voice was amazing! We talked on the phone for 2 hours that night, and the next night we talked for 4 hours!

When we finally met, over a week later, our first date was great and simple, just drinks and laughing. Our second date was two days after my 34th birthday, and Daniel showed up with a huge bouquet of the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen! He was such a gentleman! He opened the car door and the restaurant door for me and was just great (and he is still doing that)! Soon his family started wondering who he was spending so much time with and coming home with smiles! So about 3 weeks later (and several home-cooked meals from me) I met his family. His dad took about 12 of us out for dinner and it has been amazing!

Daniel decided that I was wife material on Valentine’s Day! Our relationship is wonderful, so much so that one of my coworkers is already planning OUR WEDDING! I am so glad that I got on Zoosk and met Daniel and his wonderful family! They have welcomed me and my kids into their home, as my family did to Daniel.

And to think it all started with me loving his tattoos and having the courage to tell such a hot younger guy that I loved his ink!  Thank you Zoosk!

-Tiana W. from Columbus, Ohio

In her approach to dating Daniel, Tiana did a lot of things right:

(1) She says that she had “courage” enough to talk to Daniel, and that’s how their relationship started. Zoosk girls, let’s give Tiana a round of high-fives for making the first move.

(2) Daniel and Tiana chatted online first, before talking on the phone, and then they talked on the phone for a while before meeting in real life. It’s a good idea to take things slow in online dating and to make sure you actually have interest in someone before you meet in real life. Getting to know someone online also helps build momentum and excitement once you do meet IRL.

(3) Tiana was willing to let her relationship happen naturally. Both Tiana and Daniel had just gotten out of long-term relationships, so they kept things between them low-key at first. What started as friendship turned into love, and with love, it’s good to be patient and let things unfold naturally. Good things happen to those who wait.

So, Congrats Tiana and Daniel! You’re inspiring to us all. Send us your wedding pictures

PS: If you have a Zoosk success story you’d like to share about finding true love online, send it over to met [at] zoosk [dot] com and we’d love to feature your story on our blog! Best of luck, Zooskers! <3

We are happy to share a Zoosk success story between a couple from Nebraska. This is a young couple who are falling in love for the first time. Do you remember what it was like to experience those heady feelings of young love? It’s a precious memory that we carry with us throughout our lives. Zoosk is happy we’ve helped these two lovebirds find each other! We hope you enjoy this cute love story as much as we did.

Lucas: I am a diesel mechanic in Nebraska and was finishing my last semester at school. I looked on Zoosk to find someone to hang out with and I came across Chelsea.

Chelsea: Like Lucas, I am a college student from Nebraske. When I joined the Zoosk application and created my own profile, I uploaded pictures of myself doing the things I love: reading, smiling, and wearing my cowgirl hat.

Lucas: She was beautiful, and when I read her profile I realized that I needed to contact her. We started talking a little before the Texas vs Alabama game, and Chelsea asked me if I wanted to make a bet on the game. I agreed, so Chelsea went for Texas because she is from Texas — and I went for Alabama, because I’m a rebel. We bet if Texas lost, I would take her out on a date. Sure enough, McCoy threw out his shoulder and I had a date to get ready for!

Chelsea: Lucas picked me up in a Chevy Duramax. He wore a brown shirt that wasn’t too tight but gripped his arms and his torso. I quickly realized I was in the truck of a country boy. My heart raced. Lucas had the deep voice that was very enticing. His brown eyes were breathtaking and I knew that I would definitely be seeing Lucas again.

Lucas: She wore a blue shirt that night that took my breath away. We decided to go to Applebee’s for supper, and right from the start Chelsea took my heart. Her dazzling eyes and her captivating smile swept me off my feet. Our waiter didn’t know where to seat us because the restaurant was full. Chelsea knew the place and took the initiative to seat us herself. I fell in love with her confidence. The night then progressed to deep conversation, tons of laughter, and a movie (Leap Year) and then we finished the night off with pie from Village Inn. On the drive home which was an hour and a half, all I could think about was Chelsea.

Chelsea: We didn’t expect to find such happiness and we realized that we didn’t need to expect it. I have learned that when you stop looking for love, it will find you. Lucas is a very shy person, and he jumped out of his shell to take a risk. We are opposites who balance each other out nicely. Thanks to Zoosk we found each other and we look forward to much more laughter and happiness.

Lucas: She listened to my mix CD and I loved how she liked my kind of music. She is the exact country girl that I have dreamed of. She isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty in the shop and she loves sitting on tractor tires. I loved how she liked the smell of oil and grease. Most girls wouldn’t like that, but not Chelsea. She is pure country. I’m so glad that I met her. There used to be a spark between us, but now it has exploded into a bonfire.

What an adorable couple! Congratulations Chelsea and Lucas! We wish you all the best. If you have your own Zoosk success story to share, send it to us with a photo of you and your loved one to success [at] zoosk [dot] com and if we showcase your story we’ll send you an online gift card as a token of our congratulations. Happy Zoosking!

Today we have a wonderful success story to share with you, from Bekki and Tom out in Michigan. They are absolutely adorable. Congrats to Bekki and Tom!

When I joined Zoosk, I was not sure what to expect. After having a few guys wink at me, and winking at some others, I came across Tom’s profile. I was quite impressed by it, and I winked at him.

We began emailing back and forth that same day!

We kept the emailing up for about a month, getting to know one another. A month after we started chatting on Zoosk, we went on our first date.

Before the end of the first date, we both knew that we had found the person we were meant to be with. Everything we both valued, and our goals lined up perfectly. We spent 4 hours just talking about life, and we felt that we had known one another forever.

Since then we have enjoyed every moment we spend together and are looking forward to spending the rest of our lives with one another. We feel as though we are in a modern day fairy tale — falling in love so quickly and being so incredibly happy. Thank you Zoosk!!!

Grins,
Bekki

What I love about this story is that Bekki was the one who made the first move. She was the one who messaged Tom first! Ladies, the guys on Zoosk love it when you make the first move. In our millennium, there’s no need to be demure as if we were in days of Queen Victoria.

Bekki and Tom were smart to get to know each other online, chatting on Zoosk for an entire month, before going on their first date. When online dating, it’s wise to really get a sense of someone before rushing to meet face-to-face. While the real test of a relationship is how well two people click in real life, it’s advisable not rush things too quickly so that when you do meet your mysterious internet friend in person, you feel safe and comfortable. Spending time to really learn about each other online also eases the awkwardness of a first meeting. Because you know more about each other, you have more things to talk about; you know the other person’s areas of interest, you have a history of communication, and you’ve already established some groundwork for interaction. If things get nerve-wracking, you can always talk about the topics you brought up online.

Congrats to Bekki and Tom for finding each other on Zoosk! We wish them all the best.

If you have your own Zoosk success story to share, send it to us with a photo of you and your loved one to success [at] zoosk [dot] com and if we showcase your story we’ll send you an online gift card as a token of our congratulations. Happy Zoosking!

For more success stories, check out:
Julia and Jaysen from Texas
LuLu and Allan from Vancouver
JD and Tammy from West Virginia
Rachel and David from Vancouver
Christy and Sean from Louisiana

Yee yee! The Zoosk iPhone App is here to feed your raging internet addiction!

As there are 50 million (and counting) worldwide registered users on Zoosk and 40 million worldwide iPod and iPod Touch users, a sizable swath of our Zooskers are also serious Mac people. Lucky for them, because our iPhone App promises to make social dating quicker, easier, and more efficient than, well, freaking ever.

Now you can Zoosk it up at work during that boring conference call or while you’re at the grocery store or while you’re at the gym or while you’re on a bad date with someone else (you’re just, er, responding to an important text) or in the bathroom or like basically anywhere you can find a signal. Which means, essentially, that you can flirt with online hotties wherever you go. With social networking, downloadable desktop, mobile, and iPhone applications, Zoosk is dating for the connected world.

Download the free iPhone App at the iTunes App Store online or right on your iPhone. If you’re not a Zoosk member currently, you can register and validate a new account, right on the application itself. After your first iPhone log-in, we’ll give you 30 free Zoosk coins. Use them to send a virtual gift to someone who catches your eye. Then get your thumbs ready for a flirting frenzy because that touch screen will put them to work!

Lastly, don’t be bummed if you don’t have an iPhone — Zoosk still has you covered on the mobile front. If you don’t have an iPhone, you can still access Zoosk on your standard phone with Zoosk Mobile. See how easy we make it for you to flirt shamelessly? What are you waiting for? Get out there and start flirting!

The January 2010 issue of Self Magazine mentions Zoosk in an article about the increased demand for online dating.

Zoosk is determined to put the “recess” in “recession”. So go out and play!

Some of you might have gotten some emails from Zoosk lately, letting you know that another Zoosk user has sent you a Friend Request on our site. Congratulations! This means that someone wants to be your Zoosk friend. Takes some of the pressure off dating when you can start off as friends, right? Making friends on Zoosk has never been easier.

Right above you seen what a Friend Request notification email looks like once you open it in your inbox. Now, in addition to winking, emailing, virtual gifting, connecting on our message board, or liking a person’s profile, you can send other Zooskers a request for friendship in order to get noticed. You don’t have an excuse not to flirt, not while we’re giving you all these fun options!

To send a friend request, all you have to do is click the “Send Friend Request” link that’s now on every Zoosk Date Card. It’s located right below the Zoosker’s photos, where the arrow is pointing.

On your profile, you can see your pending friend requests. Here, you see this Zoosker has 1 pending request. To confirm or deny the request, you simply click on the link where the arrow is pointing, or you can click on the Friend tab, which you see below.

This tab, on the far right, is where all your friends will be located once you confirm them. The yellow highlighted text is a link that lets you know you still have pending requests.

The green button confirms this Zoosker as your Friend. The red button denies them. Whether to add someone as a Friend is totally up to you! If you decide to add the Zoosker, they’ll be moved to the Friend tab where you can easily find and contact them.

Now you know all the ins and outs of Friending people on Zoosk. What are you waiting for? Go make some Friends!

In Bertrand Russell’s celebrated essay, “In Praise of Idleness,” the distinguished analytic philosopher and Nobel Laureate contends, quite rationally, “I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous. I hope that, after reading the following pages, the leaders of the YMCA will start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing.” And, just for dramatic effect, he adds, “If so, I shall not have lived in vain.”

In response this glorious display of intellect, Zoosk responds most enthusiastically, “Hear hear!”

It appears that the folks at TechCrunch might also believe, as Russell himself did, that “Leisure is essential to civilization.” Could there be a truer truism? Purveyors of romantic leisure that we are, Zoosk is rightfully honored to have made it to the final round of voting at this year’s 2009 TechCrunch Crunchies Awards in a category we are proud to be recognized in: Best Time Sink Application.

But we also adhere to the belief that the pursuit of love is an activity that, albeit leisurely, is absolutely necessary. Plus, leisure is useful too. Sure, you can’t expense a date on the company card or charge it to your place of work as a billable hour, but the time you spend looking for love is fully compensated, at the end of the road, when you find it. So while some time may sink during the quest, that time will be worth it when you get to your final destination. Think of it as a potentially long flight that just happens to take off and land at the exact same local time, just in different time zones.

So remember, everyone, vote for Zoosk! “Each person is invited to vote once per category per day through Wednesday, January 6th at midnight PST. Once you cast a vote in a category, you are able to share your vote through Twitter and Facebook.” Put a little bit of work in for Zoosk by voting every day until January 6th, and we’ll ensure you get the best time sink application the web has to offer for as long as your heart desires. XO.

By Juliet O

Yippee! Bring out the bells, the whistles, and the fancy trays of mouth-watering, calorie-laden sweets: the end-of-year holiday season has finally arrived! As this year (and decade) draws to a close, Zoosk wishes you the happiest holiday festivities and brightest spirits and cheer that this season has to offer.

Holidays bring with them a host of holly jolly things, from parties to paid vacation to presents, but our absolute favorite aspect of the holiday season will always be the unique excitement of holiday dating. The holiday merriment rubs off on even the most incorrigible Scrooge. Who doesn’t love an eggnog, peppermint schnapps, and mistletoe-fueled adrenaline rush?

But we know that desite the amazing rewards, holiday dating is not without its challenges. We want to make the entire process of dating during this time of year as easy on you as possible. We want you to stop stressing out and focus instead on enjoying yourself. To help our Zooskers navigate and cultivate their love lives during this special time of year, we’ve created the Singles Guide to Surviving the Holidays, a downloadable PDF that you can save on your desktop and read at your own convenience, that answers some of your most pressing questions about the rules of holiday dating.

Our guide includes holiday dating tips from relationship experts, gift-giving ideas for singles, holiday dating trends and much more. We surveyed thousands of Zooskers to find out what they really want this holiday. From what kind of gifts they wanted to what kind of date they wanted, we asked for the scoop.

Did you know that the majority — 68% — of Zooskers say that they’re looking for a long term relationship this holiday season? This guide gives you tips on how to meet someone this winter, and whether you’re just looking to land a holiday party date or if you’re on the market to establish something lasting, there are tidbits in this guide for every kind of dater.

We’ve also got expert advice from dating gurus like Rich Santos of Marie Claire, Julie Spira the best-selling author of The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online, and iVillage relationship columnist Sherry Amatenstein.

What holiday season is complete without a healthy dose of materialism? In our surveys, we asked Zooskers what kind of presents they hoped to receive from dating partners, and our Holiday Guide reveals their answers. We were pleasantly surprised to discover how completely unmaterialistic our user base is! Overwhelmingly, you guys responded that you were just hoping for a simple hug or kiss from your date this season.

Now that the question of what to get your partner is answered and filed away, you can focus on the more important thing: how to land said partner in the first place.

Since the week before Christmas marks the busiest time of year on our site, your chances of landing dates this month are statistically the highest of the year. This means that you should go out and work everything you’ve got. Flirt shamelessly. Message as many Zooskers as your greedy heart desires. The numbers show that people are looking for romance this month, so it doesn’t hurt to put yourself out there. If you’re still feeling shy, look in the mirror and repeat to yourself, “Live boldly.” Other people, we’re sure, are doing the same.

What are you waiting for? Go give yourself the best gift of all this holiday season: love.

For more facts and tidbits from our Singles Guide to Surviving the Holidays, download the guide here on our site! Good information is a shame to waste. Tell all your friends about it — heck, tell your date about it — and go out there and take advantage of the happiest time of the year!!!

By Juliet O

Using Zoosk’s Community boards is a great way to get noticed.

Of course, Zoosk’s mission is to introduce you to singles in your local area and hook you up with potential dates, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make friends or join our Community discussions while you’re at it. During moments of downtime during your maelstrom of flirting, check out our Community boards for relevant dating tips, fun conversation, and online dating success stories from our users.

The Community is also a fun way to get to know people from all over the world. If you’re not opposed to a long distance relationship, you can even meet people on the Community boards. We’ve had it happen before! All you have to do to go to a person’s profile from the Community pages is click on their photo. The right hand side of a Community post also shows if a Zoosker is currently online, how many posts they’ve made, and how long they’ve been on Zoosk. To message a person from the Community boards, all you need to do is click the little envelope icon below their photo. See below.

Whenever you make a community post, it goes on your status feed as well, as Zoosk’s status feed that gets shown to Zooskers within your search criteria. Yet another way to get noticed — not a bad deal! We also host contests on our Community for coins and other prizes. Who doesn’t love prizes? I hope you’re convinced now that Community participation is fun! Of course, it’s totally up to you, but we’d like to to know that it’s an option, and a good one at that.

As the year winds down, Zoosk looks at the work we’ve done through 2009 with feelings of accomplishment. We’ve become the fastest growing online dating site in the world, and we’ve released some amazing new products like Zoosk Desktop, Zoosk Mobile, Zoosk Coins, and our new product, Boost Views. We’ve also brought people together from all over the world and helped so many of our users find love. We sincerely hope you’ve had as much fun with Zoosk this year as we’ve had, working for you. If that’s been the case, please vote for Zoosk for a 2009 TechCrunch Crunchies Award, and nominate us for Best Social Networking Application.

Nominations just opened, but you can vote each day until the ballots close two weeks from now. Each vote counts, so please remember to bookmark the site and vote for Zoosk every day from now until December 4 so that we can make it to the next round of voting!

The more you show your support, the more people will know about Zoosk. That means our user base, YOUR dating pool, will get bigger and bigger. We know you want your dating pool to grow so that you raise the chances of finding that someone special, so remember to vote for Zoosk this year. Our hopes are that Zoosk will grow so we have a better chance of matching every single one of our users up with someone who works for them. We’d love to win a Crunchie so that this can happen. Thanks Zooskers! Vote for Zoosk!