Launched in December of 2007, Zoosk is a relative newcomer to the online dating world, but it’s already made an impact. In addition to the site itself, Zoosk applications are available for a number of popular social networking sites including Facebook and MySpace.

The site has a nice clean design. It’s fun and it’s friendly, even if it is a bit juvenile. The use of color is pleasantly muted, doesn’t overpower, and the Zoosk logo is catchy.

The site is very easy to use, and all aspects are easily available from the main page. Even if English isn’t your main language, Zoosk offers services in twelve other languages including French and Spanish.

Creating a profile is painless, and you do have the option of creating what I call a skeletal profile (one that has just some basic information) before you decide to bare your soul to the rest of the world.

The search is a breeze to set up. Besides age range, you can request matches within a 160 km radius or less, and narrow down the results by height, religion, relationship status, children, ethnicity, education and political outlook.

The help section is easy to use and has answers to questions that users will commonly ask. If the answer you’re looking for isn’t available there’s an easy to follow link for Customer Support.

Zoosk policy requires that users have at least one photo on their profile, though there is no mention of what you cannot do on the site without one! In other words, if you have only one photo on your profile, you can’t delete it without first uploading another one. Now if they’d only do something about all those profiles that show someone’s boat/motorcycle/house/garden etc.! A note of caution to those who install the Zoosk application on a social networking site; Zoosk will adopt the picture from your social network profile until such time as you upload another photo to Zoosk. So don’t be fooled into thinking your profile doesn’t have a photo, because it just might!

As a non-premium member “the system may restrict you from continuing conversations with other non-premium members”. I find this sentence incredibly annoying. What’s with this “may” business? Does it or doesn’t it? It’s difficult to understand, just from reading this. I had a further look through the Help section and only premium members have unrestricted communication access, although non-premium members can initiate contact to and reply to communications from premium members.

There appears to be a syncing issue between the Zoosk site and the Facebook application. Users have told us that if the app is downloaded into Facebook, and they then go to the site and create a profile, once they return to Facebook their profile information doesn’t transfer. Definitely annoying.

The search uses your location to initiate searches which is fine; however, you cannot search for members outside of a 160 km radius, which is incredibly restrictive! Mind you this is easily overcome by changing your own location, but really shouldn’t be necessary. Given that this is a global application, I’d like to be able to search for anyone, anywhere, just because I’m curious! You know what they say about the grass being greener!

Like some other internet dating sites reviewed here, this site is reluctant to part with pricing information before you’ve created a profile. We’ve taken the guesswork out of it for you because we believe that’s just nonsense! Fees for Zoosk are $12.50 per month for six months, $17.49 per month for three months or $24.99 for one month. Accounts paid by credit card will be automatically renewed. As with all other paid dating sites that we’ve reviewed, Zoosk has a “no refund” policy, so if you sign up for a six month membership, and decide to cancel after three months, Zoosk gets to keep your money! It’s buyer beware.