POF – Website History

POF is one of the largest and the most popular online dating websites in the world. The number of its users prevails 40 million people. Unlike lots of other matchmaking websites, which charge fees for the services they offer, POF is ultimately free, which makes it a number one choice for singles across the world. However, some features it provides require fees for quick access, but these payments are not too high. The website is primarily popular in the UK, Canada, the US and Australia.

The service itself is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was founded in 2003 by Markus Frind, who got his Computer Systems Technology diploma in the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1999. Markus ran the website on his own since 2003 and up to 2008. This is when he decided to expand the business and started hiring people from Vancouver headquarters to help him with the site.

POF attracted the attention of singles from different countries not only due to its affordability and available features, but also due to the number of contests it organized. One of them was launched in 2009 and offered the winner a superb possibility to meet the world-famous Lady Gaga during one of her fascinating tours. And that's not it! In 2010, the site appeared in numerous videos (including those of Lady Gaga, Natasha Bedingfield, Jason Derulo and even Britney Spears), which made it even more popular and drew hundreds (if not thousands) of new members to the service.

In 2010, the ad platform of the site was launched and this gave the service immense popularity with single men and women throughout the world. In 2011, POF became involved into the scandal associated with the exposing of its users' personal information to unknown hackers. This incident happened on January, 21 and posed danger to the website's credibility and popularity. Plenty of Fish was accused of being unable to keep their members' privacy and online security. Luckily, Markus Frind reported that he has managed to identify the hackers responsible for the incident and assured the concerned users of the further safety of their accounts. This helped retrieve users' trust to some extent.

Income web-site pof.com in February, 27 2006

At present, POF employs a number of staff members, including an executive assistant, 8 staff members responsible for the customer service, marketing and account managers, several talented programmers and a graphic designer. This team contributes to the way the website looks and functions today. It still ranks one of the most popular online dating services not only in Canada and the UK, but in the world as well. The number of monthly page views prevails 2.5 billion. Despite of the fact that the site cannot boast the most spectacular layout, it is still reported to be highly effective and functional. The sign up procedure is not challenging and will not take you too long. The most popular and widely used features include instant messaging, reliable matching and compatibility testing, ability to exchange smiles, an informative photo grading system etc. Users of the website can look through the list of people who have viewed their profiles and add new singled to their lists of favorites. POF has one of the most impressive forums, which allows everyone to date virtually. So, if you are driven by the only idea – to find your soul mate – then Plenty of Fish will definitely be a nice choice for you!

Trends for POF