“Our friendship started when I sent her an email through Zoosk. We met for coffee, and I knew at once I found a friend.”

I joined Zoosk because I was looking for pleasant company and to enjoy where I’m at. Our friendship started when I sent her an email through Zoosk. I didn’t get a response from her. I still kept checking things out and, about 3 months later, I noticed she viewed my profile. I sent another message and this time I got a response. She was from Virginia and I am in Maryland. We met for coffee, and I knew at once I found a friend. I felt an instant connection from the ease of conversation. We related to one another and enjoyed each others company. We have become very close friends and we get together whenever we can. We are enjoying what we have found in each other. I’ve been wanting to thank Zoosk, now I got my chance.

–Ray

Who says you can’t make friends on an online dating site? Whether on our Community Forums, through joining our Twitter community, or fanning on our Facebook page, there are a myriad of ways that you can establish friendships on Zoosk. Now, with our new friend request feature, you can add interesting people from around the world to your friend list and use Zoosk to keep in touch. We’re happy for Ray that he got to meet a great friend. We hope you can do the same! 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

We recently received an email from a Zoosker named Christy that read, “I started using Zoosk in September of 2009 and was able to meet the man of my dreams. We were married on October 23, 2009! Thanks so much for this awesome site!” We were blown away! Lives really can change overnight, and Christy’s story just goes to show that you never know where or when you’ll find love. In September, Christy was a single woman, and by October, she was married to the man of her dreams! Talk about being swept off your feet.

We followed up with Christy to find out more details about her love story, and what we found out surpassed even our most romantic expectations. This was a truly amazing story! Christy and her husband Sean are both from Louisiana and met via their Zoosk local networks. Christy describes how much fun she had on their first date, “It was an all day affair. We first went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch, then we played putt-putt golf, then we went to the movies, after freshing up we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild Wings and finally played pool at Yesterday’s. It was a blast and lasted all day long!”

The next month, the happy couple were married.

Christy even sent us this picture of their beautiful wedding rings. If I had a ring like that I’d show it off too! When asked for her three favorite memories from the wedding, Christy responded, “First, marrying the handsome man of my dreams and seeing his face shine as we were married. Next, getting that gorgeous ring on my finger. And thirdly, that his best friend Cody was there by his side!”

Christy also sent us a romantic picture a note Sean wrote her (attached to a bouquet of roses) that Sean gave her the day before their wedding.

All we can say is: Wow! What a beautiful story! We wish Christy and Sean all the best in their marriage, and we’re so thrilled to know that Zoosk played a part in the happy union of this couple.

If you have a success story of your own, send it here to the Zoosk support page. Each month we host a success story contest and give Amazon gift certificates to selected stories that we find particularly inspiring. Please send us your very own Zoosk love story!

If you’re interested in reading more success stories from Zoosk, check out stories from these happy couples below.

Blondie and Thomas
Andy and Kelly
Lauren and Adam
Ang and Jason
Patricia from Baltimore

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!