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Our Favorite Dating Sites |
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Top Dating Categories |
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AsiaFriendFinder: Full Review |
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Pro Rating :
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User Ratings :
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Avg. Rating :
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About AsiaFriendFinder |
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URL
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Year Started
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1996
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Location
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United States of America
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Languages
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Cantonese
English
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Short Description
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is an accurate name for this website - it's specifically designed for those seeking to date or correspond with Asians around the world. This is a culture-specific niche dating service that serves as a part of the FriendFinder network founded in 1996 by Andrew Conru. As part of a collection of 18 FriendFinder sites, has some of the highest activity on the network and offers several extras that focus on Asian culture, heritage and beliefs.
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Number of Members
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5,500,000
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Overall Rating
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A 5; doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but does offer some good basic extras without the trimmings.
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AsiaFriendFinder Categories & Features |
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Relationships
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Friendship
Marriage
Pen Pals
Romance
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Religions
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Buddhist
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Ethnicities
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Asian
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Other Categories
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All
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Finding Your Match
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Automated Matching
Photo Gallery
Search (Advanced)
Search by location
Search (Quick)
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Contacting Members
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E-mail
Instant messaging
Online Chat
Private messaging
Virtual kiss (Icebreakers)
Voice Communication
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AsiaFriendFinder Dating Service Review |
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The Company
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's parent company, FriendFinder, is a California-based company founded in 1996 with sites catering to a variety of cultures and international locations. Their support is generally reliable and they will answer emailed questions in 48 hours or less. They have invested in making this a versatile site with plenty of options and it should be here for the long haul. With 18 other FriendFinder sites, the company is firmly entrenched in the marketplace. Finding friendship with romantic potential is based on the concept that your dating and social networks can overlap (but don't have to). It is a good concept and should be continued. The ambiguity of whether the sites share some statistics and information, however, should be clarified. There isn't the clout here of some of the biggest sites, but it's got a good base.
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Site Navigation
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's page loads are okay, but the overall look is very cluttered. There's too much stuff crammed onto each page, which makes it distracting and difficult to read. The links are all functional and the load is generally quick, but sometimes you have to take two steps to get from point A to point B.
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Site Response Speed
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Average
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Sign-Up Process
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Easy sign-up and easy profiles. If you belong to any other FriendFinder site, it's even quicker and easier to sign up for . They do push hard, though, for you to become a paying member.
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Breadth of Services
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If you are looking for Asians for friendship or dating, is a solid site, but not necessarily the strongest in the market. The magazine and chat rooms are way above average, though, which makes up for the relatively small size of the site.
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User Base
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's membership base covers the whole spectrum. Interestingly, there is a high percentage of military personnel online, probably due to the large number of men and women stationed overseas who would like to meet or correspond with others familiar with the culture where they are stationed. may be the only site where the number of men who are members far outweighs the number of women, with a ratio of nearly 4:1.
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User Experience
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Standard profiles, standard photos and a not-very-exciting look to should be overlooked. If you explore the site fully, you'll find that the links to horoscopes, articles and chat rooms are well worth a visit, especially if you are interested in Asian life and culture. Do take 's "magazine" section with a grain of salt - some of the articles are really just from members with a chip on their shoulders or from others venting their feelings about a broken heart.
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Customer Service
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Reliable, accurate and helpful, but 's customer service is not especially speedy.
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Customer Service Hours
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Email contact via webpage
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Registration Options
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FREE to register
Quick registration
Online help
Tips and examples
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Additional Services
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Automatic renewal
Hide profile option
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Long Description
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offers three levels of membership, including Standard (free), Silver and Gold, with varying levels of participation and functionality and two different kinds of profiles and networking - Dating & Romance or the Friend Network. On , there seems to be a fairly even balance of each, with just as many people looking to meet Asian friends as members looking for Asian mates. offers not only profiles, but daily horoscopes, photo ratings, free e-greetings and a "magazine" written primarily by members.
Meet members both at home and abroad
While based in California, has its highest concentration of members in China, testifying to its validity as a matchmaking service for Asians. The site can be displayed in English, Traditional or Simplified Chinese. Interestingly, there is a ratio of almost 4-to-1 male members to female members. An indication of the seemingly universal male fascination with Asian women? Perhaps. After all, nearly all of the women are actually Asian or mixed-race, while about a third of 's male membership in the U.S. have no Asian heritage at all. Hmm.
Use to find friends easily in China
's numbers clearly indicate that it has real popularity in China, where there are over two million members. In the U.S., the membership is around a quarter of a million. The profiles are relatively simple, with the standard questions about likes and dislikes and only a brief area for your introductory paragraph. does offer you some nice tips, however, on making your dating profile more interesting and getting started with chat, winks or emails. You can be more elaborate as a paid member and add additional photographs to your standard one when you pay the members' fee. While originates in the United States, it's firmly entrenched in the East and has a high percentage of dating> members who are in China and the surrounding areas.
Asian-specific interest groups provide icebreakers at
excels at offering special interest groups you can join and a wide variety of chat rooms. There are chat rooms for people looking to meet in (or interested in) Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, Chongging, Singapore, Hong Kong and Guangzhou member for everything from Feng Shui to Scrapbooking. If you are interested in business, you can join a general ring or get more specific with Investments, Mentoring, etc. Sports, Entertainment, Asian Culture...just about everything is covered in the Interest Groups and Chat Rooms.
Extras: Plenty on Asian culture
At , the Interest Groups are especially varied and interesting if you are more interested in Pen Pals or Friendships than finding Asians for dating, simply because there's so much variety. You can find everything from Travel Buddies (let's be careful out there, folks!) to Religion or Health. In Religion, the two largest groups are Buddhism and Christianity, with hundreds of topics in each. The Magazine feature is available to all members and is primarily an exchange site for members rather than a real ezine. The articles are mostly written by members and are more like opinion pieces or rants, but almost all are interesting. The topics invariably generate discussions. Popular magazine categories with numerous articles include Breaking Up, Advice, First Dates, Relationship Humor and Building a Relationship. There is one glitch the company should try to fix: You can't read all of the articles, since they appear in the language in which they were originally written, so if someone posts an article in Traditional Chinese, you won't be able to read it if your settings are in English, a real hurdle for a multinational, multicultural Asian dating service.
membership has its advantages
has more membership levels and a variety of unique features for Gold Members, which is a savvy marketing ploy to get more paid members to join. doesn't have a unique identity in terms of look and feel like larger sites such as or . It feels a bit generic and is somewhat cluttered and lacking in quality graphics. While the visual trimmings may be sparse, has everything you might want and the ability to click on the "searching for" menu and see exactly how many members there are in any given country is great. As a standard member, you can browse all you want, but only respond to one email each 24 hours. You cannot initiate contact with others and you will be limited in how many profiles you can actually view.
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AsiaFriendFinder Pros & Cons |
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Pros
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If you are interested in dating or friendship with Asians, is a good bet. With the membership being highest in China, it's excellent for those seeking Asian pen pals or friends overseas, or for those who have resettled in the US or other parts of the world and miss their friends and families there.
Membership numbers are respectable and the special interest areas are extensive and varied.
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Cons
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The extreme limitations for free membership can be a bit off-putting, as is the rather busy-looking site design.
The three languages offered on don't always translate well and there can be some difficulty communicating across languages.
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AsiaFriendFinder Plans Offered |
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Pricing
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1 month for $14.88 (silver) or $18.88 (gold)
3 months for $28.88 (silver) or $48.88 (gold)
1 year for $68.88 (silver) or $98.88 (gold)
There is no 6-month option
Two choices of membership level: Silver or Gold
Unlimited emailing services
Blocking features
Unlimited browsing and ability to rate photos
Email notification of new members who match with you
For Gold members, you can get a highlighted profile listing that will draw attention to your profile. You can also be "short-listed" in searches.
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Site Freebies
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Post your profile with a photo; browse a limited number of profiles. You can respond to only one email in 24 hours and can't initiate contact. Full access to the Magazine section and chat areas to read, but must pay to participate.
Photo gallery for quick browsing of photos
"Winks" to show interest in others
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