Passion Dating Site Review
Overview
Passion is one of the more popular dating sites you’ll find online. I find Passion to be a legitimate and active dating community. Passion’s membership comes with a multitude of site features designed to help you connect with and meet with others. And while not all these features come free, it doesn’t subtract from the fact that Passion is a solid choice in the online dating space. Passion has a very large subscription base and with that comes a better chance for anyone to find the right person for them. In fact, I have no problem saying that Passion affords ladies, like myself, a chance to be as selective as I want seeing as I’ve found no shortage of singles that fit my specific interests. Passion.com is a feature rich website that offers its members several avenues to connect and hopefully find that special someone.Signing Up
Signing up to Passion is simple and free. When starting out as a new user, you have to fill out a short survey regarding the things you are interested in for potential dates. You can also fill out a little introduction for yourself to give people an idea about who you are want what you’re about. Passion does a good job of offering free users a lot to do to get a true feel of the site.Profiles
One of the more robust features for members is the amount of detail you can have on your profiles. Like most other online dating sites, Profiles make for your “first impression” so the more information you provide, the better your chances are at attracting others who you may have things in common with. There are even a few surveys that you can take to reveal more of your personal tastes and goals. Obviously, a cute profile photo will also go a long way to attract other members and garner some interest. I found that Passion is open to more than just restricting you to a simple headshot like a lot of other dating sites. You’re encouraged to post a few photos so I took advantage of that posting selfies I’ve taken at fun places I’ve visited or showing off a cute outfit I’m wearing. A little effort can pay off big.
It’s just not pictures either. You can upload videos to your profile too. Those familiar with the Instagrams and Snaphats of the world like I do will be right at home with Passion’s video posting feature. Interesting videos can generate some attention for you, especially ones where you’re having a good time. I received lots of responses to videos of me just having fun on a hoverboard or bouncing along to a song in my car. There’s even a section of your profile dedicated to creating your own blog. It’s like creating your own homepage on passion. Posts can be as elaborate or as simple as you like and it gives visitors another outlet to connect with you if you decide to include comments. I didn’t use this specific feature myself but I think it’s neat that it’s available.
Connecting With Members
Passion offers one of the more sophisticated profile search tools. Any detail you may have filled in for your own profile can probably be used to narrow down any member search you decide to run. Passion’s search is basic for free members. You can filter by gender, age and distance. The full suite of filters is limited to Gold Members which includes filters for race, sexual orientation, smoking and drinking habits, marital status, among a whole slew of other options. I also noticed Passion tries to match you up with people. I believe this process is based on the personal information of both you and the matches, but the strength of results of these matches always felt a bit thin. It’s probably a good way for other members to get some visibility on the site making it easy for people to see their picture and just click to see their full profile. Checking out profiles is also restricted to those with a Gold Membership too. If you do, you can comment and “favorite” members’ videos and pictures.
Passion boasts a few chat options. Their Instant Messenger is setup where you start it up and then it lists everyone who’s also on Instant Messenger that also fits your specific search settings and then sorts them by distance. You can also sort them by Username or age or even if they are broadcasting on their own webcam if you’re interested in some cam chat. Being a Gold Member means you can start as many Instant Messenger conversations as you want, Standard Members are limited to 5 conversations. Passion Chat Rooms is another section they have where you can browse through a few chat rooms by subject or by geographic location. Depending on the time of day and your interests, this place can be fun place to kill some time. Each the rooms indicate how many people are currently in the room so it’s easy to find rooms with a lot of activity.
There’s another section called Groups. It’s not quite chat, more like a bulletin board system where you can post or reply to messages. You can browse these boards by location, or topic. Topics here range widely from Books/Magazines to Tattoos and Travel. I really liked going through the Cooking and Models/Photographers boards and learned a bunch. The community at Passion is generally very helpful.
Contests
One of the more interesting features Passion offers is their Contests section. Every two weeks, Passion posts a contest for members to participate in. Generally, the contests are focused on a particular theme and lots of time’s reflect seasonal events like the “Wearing the Green Contest” in March to the “Sexy Costume Contest” in October. Members post pictures or videos according to the theme, finalists are chosen and the community votes on them. I find it a fun outlet for to show off my own creativity, which is the whole point. And if you place well enough you can win up to a whole year’s membership. They keep an archive of all the contests so you can always look back and see what others have submitted for previous contests.Confirm ID
Passion institutes Confirm ID as a way for members to verify that they are who they say they are while remaining anonymous. It’s a free third-party verification service that confirms a member’s non-identifying attributes, like gender and age. This in turn establishes trust, and in the online dating space, makes anyone who does it far more approachable. During my time with Passion, I never limited my real world dates to only people who had been verified. It gave me confidence in knowing I wasn’t wasting my time one the site with any frauds.Gold Membership
Gold Members are easily identified while you’re browsing the website. They will have a gold crown icon next to their usernames. These basically signify members who are a little more serious about using Passion. A Gold Membership means you can have contact anyone else who’s a Gold Member. If you’re not ready to go gold, they also have an upgrade called Standard Contracts. This poorly named feature lets free members reply to any messages they may have received from Gold Members. It’s an option I suppose. Aside from messaging, there are a few other features you’ll want a Gold membership for. You can send “Flirts” and emails to other members, and chat with them on your webcam, which I find a lot easier than typing all the time. Flirts are like “winks” or “pokes” on other social sites. Little non-committal nudges. In the end you really aren’t going to get very far in terms of real world dates unless you can freely communicate with members you’re interested in, and that’s the real selling point for Gold. Anything short of that and you’re just beating around the bush. Standard (free) might be something you can work with, but it’s less cumbersome going for a Gold Membership.Pricing
- Gold Membership for 1 Month - $30
- Gold Membership for 3 Months - $60
- Gold Membership for 12 Months - $180
Passion “Points”
If you’re truly not sold on the idea for paying for a dating site, or if it really comes down to not have the disposable income for a dating site like this, there is an avenue for you called Passion.com’s Points Program. It’s available to members at any level and has been put in place to encourage us to be contributors to the site. The things you can do to earn points can range from referring friends who then join the site, to smaller activities like posting on comments or liking another member’s video.
If you earn enough points, you can cash them in for special features and prizes. Things like special icons, called “Bling”, that can be added to your profile to make it pop, to more tangible benefits like being able to email any member, regardless of your membership restrictions. If you are particularly dedicated to the Passion, you can even earn a Gold Membership Upgrade for a month. And if you are really into these points and want to use them to really “Bling” out your profile or want to try highlighting your profile in the member search for a month, Passion gives you the option to purchase those points direct. There’s even a section on Passion called Live Member Webcams. For the ladies with a bit of an exhibitionist’s streak (and men for that matter, a lot more than you’d think), this area is made for us. You’ll find more than a fair share of members teasing their viewership and a few are gaining a sizeable following and earning “points” from them along the way. All of which can be spent on the site as you like or even cashed out for real money.The takeaway is you could conceivably be gifted all the points you need to keep your gold membership going by contributing to, or just being friendly, with the rest of the community. While the value is there for those who want to pay for the Gold Membership, Passion still offers everyone a choice.
