Exclusive African American Information |
Online Dating for African-Americans
A Review of the Best Websites
Published February 15, 2006 by Delores Williams
 darrenmbaker © www.bigstockphoto.com | Did you know? Internet dating is proving to be a very successful way to find long-term romance.
Takeaways The majority of profiles on black dating sites are of people under 22.All of these services offer a free online profile.Soul Singles allows users to create video profiles. |
The Internet can be great to meet new friends and potential lovers. For the African American who dates within their race this can be a daunting task on some sites. I have searched the web and found some of the best websites for meeting people of African descent. The criteria I used was a little tough. Since I live in a medium size city I used it as the basis for membership. My city has around 300,000 people. Furthermore, I evaluated these websites with African Americans in mind based on free vs paid services, one night stands vs true dating sites, the application process, how long it took, if pictures are included and if I had to pay for it.Black Planet Love This is one of the premiere sites for single African Americans for anything from love to business. They have three subscriptions levels based on length of time. Their memberships start at 19.95 for one month, and the year going for 99.95, which can be broken into payments of 9.95 per month. They do accept all methods of payment except Western Union. Basically members can send little flirts to others for free, but you can't get the real information on them. Their membership is over a half million, so the chances of meeting someone in your town is good. According to Community Connect Inc, the parent company, their Black Planet Love gets the most profiles from 18-22 year olds in the top ten markets. They range in the 12,000 range, while older adults tend to be around 4,000 per group. The main site www.blackplanet.com has over 17 million members to their free content, with 500,000 in their paid dating service. I did a basic search of men 40-44 in Oklahoma and it only came up with 29 men. Their best feature is that they allow you to design your own web page. They even give you details on who visited the site.Further there are free chat rooms and forums on the main page. Soul Singles A unique site that allows users to create video profiles. They offer a detailed questionnaire, free e-cards, and the opportunity to chat with potential dates. Many things can be done without registering for the site. They let you do a search, though it is not narrowed down by state or zip code without logging in. A unique thing they have is the opportunity to participate in local events such as meeting at basketball games or concerts. They offer free profiles, flirts, email, browsing and paid services: 14.95 (1 month) or 74.95 (12 months). You can reply to messages once, but afterward need to become a platinum member. Further, you cannot initiate any email contact without being a member. They do allow you to put your email address in your responses, so that is a legal way of getting around the paid membership. Soul Singles has an instant messenger program and a "Ask Truman" section that letters users write in with their questions about life and love. Overall, they could be considered the best of the sites for free stuff. Ebony Friends 12 months for $119.95/1 month for $19.95 * Offers most payment options. Instant messenger program. Tries to get you to get your friends to sign up for their programs. Many free services. Not really a lot of free services. You can browse, but does require full profile. Your ad is free, but you cannot initiate or do thorough searches. Pretty much you are limited to gender, age range, and within 100 miles of your zip code. You can respond, but not initiate with other members except to flirt. Black People Meet This site was great since it only allowed searches for people in my state with pictures and it brought up 125 hits. Some were not in my area, but at least there was variety. They have chats, flirts, you can even see who is online at the time, but that is worldwide, so you have to sift through to find the ones in your area. To chat with the ones online you must be a paid member. They accept credit cards for payment. Memberships run from 9.95 (monthly) to 189.95 (yearly). Someone did not do the math correctly because it would be cheaper to go monthly. They allow video profiles as well as regular pictures. Black Dating Network The questions are vague, and the most weird thing is that you have to pay by check or money order for membership. Premium memberships start at 19.95 for one month while a year costs $99.95. They did allow you to do a search without signing in. My search resulted in 60 members, but only 10 with pictures.The only thing you are not allowed to do is initiate email contact with a member. Though you can send them a flirt so they can email you and you are allowed to respond for free. What do these dating websites have in common for the interested African Americans?
All the services offered the free profile. The difference was in the detail. A couple just wanted basic name, rank, and serial number. Better services had detailed profiles which could take over 30 minutes to complete. Black Planet allowed users to design a website and offered stats for free. The good ones required credit cards, while some just wanted a money order sent to their office because they were not equipped to accept credit cards. This is troubling on two points. One, it takes months to retrace a "lost" money order. It is not an identity checker. Anyone can go to the store and buy one without id. Second, with the prices this one was charging why are they not credit card equipped? PayPal could have been used as in other sites. In conclusion, Soul Singles and Black Planet take the prize for the true best on the web for black dating. Black Planet allows so much cross over with its regular site that one would be hard-pressed to not get contacted by at least one person. I liked the variety of stuff that Soul Singles had. It may seem old fashioned, but I like the idea that the man has to initiate. Paying the membership fees could be good for those in the top 10 areas in the country, but for others, I would recommend just using the free search. Happy Dating!
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