Editors' Review
Do you Yahoo? Most everyone has or has had a Yahoo email account at some point. Yahoo functions as a portal to just about anything you need information about on the internet, so it's not surprising that they would dip their toes into the pool of internet dating with Yahoo! Personals. They have easy access to an extremely broad customer base, so marketing is as easy as one, two, three. The company has been an internet fixture since Al Gore created the internet, writing code on veritable stone tablets. Does the extent of their internet experience and the easy access to millions of potential clients allow Yahoo to be a leader in the realm of internet dating? Absolutely!
Profiles
Yahoo! Personal profiles are very basic and straightforward. You write a little "about me" blurb and one about what you are looking for in a man or woman. You fill out a multiple choice questionnaire regarding lifestyle, physical description, interests and select multiple choice options for what you are looking for in date. This allows the site to do the matching. This is fine for just finding a date. If you are looking for a relationship a little more work is required. With 134 results for matching, I found in the first three screens only two people that interested me after reading what they actually wrote. Admittedly all of them did fit the physical and lifestyle checklist, but some of use are lazy and would prefer the computer to do more of the work.
Communication
Communication on Yahoo! Personals, generally begins with an "icebreaker," a little way to say, "Hey, saw your profile, think you're cute, check me out." Then you exchange emails, and hopefully soon, phone numbers and smiles over coffee or cocktails. In general people seem to move a little faster from cyber introduction to real life meetings on Yahoo than on the sites that are more geared towards serious relationships; so if the weekend plans are looking kind of boring and it's already Tuesday then logging in to Yahoo could change that weekend forecast for you.
Ease of Use
The website is incredibly easy to use, mostly due to the simplicity factor, and signing up can take as little as 15 minutes including uploading photos. They already have all your email, address and other info so that eases the process along as well. The demographic leans a bit to the younger side than a lot of the sites, with the major portion of subscribers being in the 18-35 age bracket. Safety and added features are not abundant on this site.
Summary
Yahoo! Personals is a good option for those that are not really looking for a highly serious relationship, but are more in the dating and having fun mode. The ease of use and simplicity of the site make it great for a quick log on while working and while this is a drawback if you are looking for a soulmate and want to point and click and live happily ever after; it is a great way to meet new people. The simplicity of the site is also reflected in the price which goes as low as $15.99 a month on the longer plans. Maybe that sixteen dollars will just get you, "Better first dates, more second dates."