Most online dating websites are solely focused on helping their users find other members to date and start a relationship with them. All of the features on these dating-specific websites are based around making it easier for the user base to meet and date new people. If you’re looking for a website that focuses on more than one thing and has a very large user base that is also filled with single men and single women, you may want to consider checking out Hi5.com. Hi5 is more than just for dating and is one of those websites you just can’t put a basic label on in terms of having only one sole focus.
Hi5 Review
Background
Hi5 originally started out as one of the first social networking sites on the Internet along with MySpace all the way back in 2003 even before Facebook was launched in 2007.
It has become one of the most popular social networking websites on the Internet along with Facebook these days and has a lot more to offer as well.
A couple of years after the website was launched, in 2009, Hi5 developed its’ own gaming platform that is social in nature and became one of the main attractions for visitors to this website.
Hi5 remains one of the most popular social networking and social gaming websites on the Internet. Considered to be most similar to Facebook and Friendster, Hi5 also offers different features such as friendship networks, groups, events, status updates, and sharing photos with other members.
Hi5 first started in the United States back in 2003 but has since spread all over the world in terms of its’ accessibility and is most popular in Latin American countries.
Hi5 claims to be currently available in over 200 countries and its members come from all of these nations for gaming and social networking purposes.
Hi5 can be used in over 50 different languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, etc.
Hi5 gets over 40 million unique views and visitors on a monthly basis to its’ website and has over 50 million registered members from around the world. Hi5 user base is getting bigger and bigger each and every day.
While this website isn’t solely focused on dating, there are millions of single men and women who use Hi5 every day to make new connections, meet new people, and even go on a date or two.
The site is amongst the most popular websites on the entire Internet and there are many ways to get to know other users. The website remains completely free to sign-up, register, and create a profile which is great because you can take advantage of every feature on Hi5 without paying for anything. This is quite rare when compared to other mainstream dating and social networking websites.
One of the best ways to get to know someone on Hi5 is through the social networking games that they offer. You can work together as teammates or play against each other as rivals in any of these offered games.
You can add these people to your friend network or you may just be meeting them for the first time. Some of the most popular games are available on the Internet such as Farmville and MafiaWars, which host millions of unique online players each day.
The layout of the website is quite simple and the design is very streamlined so you should have no trouble navigating Hi5.
The website pages are easily accessible and it’s simple to find singles you’d like to get to know better. Best of all, when compared to other dating and social networking websites, Hi5 is free to use and completely affordable with a wide variety of useful features to capture your attention and keep you coming back for more.
While not a traditional dating website, it offers a lot more than the average dating site.
Main Features
Signing Up and Registering
In order to sign-up properly, you’re going to need to give some personal details about yourself such as your first and last name, gender, unique username, password, and email address.
There are some optional features you can choose to include them in your profile when registering yourself. You can upload a photo of yourself, which can act as a temporary profile picture while you get your profile set up. Later, you can add some additional photos to your pictures album.
You can connect to other people on Hi5 easily by allowing the website to access your contacts book for your e-mail address to see if there are other people who are active on Hi5 and who would probably accept a friend request from you.
You can also search for other people by their e-mail addresses if you know them personally and see if they are active on Hi5. That way you may be able to connect with them faster.
All of this information isn’t necessary to complete the registration of your membership but would help to give you more views, visitors, and allow you to add a few friends of yours to your Hi5 contact list.
- Creating your Profile
When it comes to actually creating your profile and filling it out fully, you can do so in a number of ways. All of this information is optional and you do not have to write out every single part of the profile. However, the more you fill out, the more visitors, views, and messages you’re likelier to get.
This information is more personal in nature so you must decide if you want that kind of details out there on the website for millions of members to have the access to it.
The information that you can conclude in this profile include your hometown, current location, what you’re looking for on the website (friendship, dating, relationships, pen pals, networking, etc.). As well as your current relationship status and whether you are single, in a relationship, married, divorced, and separated, etc.
- Personal Information
In addition, you can also get more personal about yourself such as what your religious background is, what your racial / ethnic background is, and if you speak any foreign languages other than your own native tongue.
You can also write about yourself, who you are, what you believe, what your interests and hobbies are in a free-flowing essay response in the ‘About Me’ section.
You can also describe your physical characteristics such as your height, weight, body type (athletic, average, overweight, thin), hair color, and eye color, etc.
Perhaps, most importantly, you can divulge about what you’re looking for on the website with a couple of sentences about the kind of personality traits you are looking for in a friend, a networking partner, a date, or even a gaming partner.
- Status Updates
With all of this profile information completed, you’ll be able to flesh out the profile with other available features. You can post status updates and messages to your profile that will appear in the news feeds of other members whom you are connected with through the network.
- Photos
Beyond the first picture of yourself that you uploaded as apart of the registration process, you can continue uploading other pictures of yourself that will help garner more attention, views, and visitors to your profile.
You should remember that these profile pictures could be uploaded from your personal files of your computer or by using your webcam to take pictures of yourself to be used for the profile.
You also may e-mail some photos directly to the website that cannot be uploaded otherwise. It’s important to remember that these profile pictures should be mainly of you and not just your family members, friends, or your pets instead. These people or animals can be in the pictures with you but you should be the main focus on your profile pictures.
You also have the ability to create photo albums or galleries that can highlight important events from your life such as graduations, birthdays, or weddings.
- Design and Background
If you would like your profile to appear more creative, you have the option of adding a formal design and background to it that’s both unique and colorful.
As a member, you can choose from a number of options that the website provides for you. You can change your design and background as many times as you would like if you decide that you would like to experiment for different looks for your profile.
These backgrounds, designs are known as ‘skins’ because they help to give your profile some uniqueness and depth to it.
There’s a browser toolbar that can give you easy access to the different pages of the website without you needing to go through entering in the URL.
- Groups
There are thousands of groups on Hi5 that highlight the different interests and hobbies of its’ diverse user base. As an individual member of the website, you can join as many groups as you would like. However, you should know that the names of these groups will be displayed publicly on your profile for other users to view and check out.
- Flirting
If you really want to use Hi5 strictly for dating purposes, you can express a more direct kind of interest in other members by scrolling through the pictures of different members’ profiles and clicking ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to show if you’re interested in that person or not.
If you like the profile and find them attractive, you’ll click ‘yes’ below the picture but if it’s the opposite, you’ll click ‘no’ to move on to another picture.
If that person also clicks ‘yes’ on your profile and there’s a mutual match, there are a few other ways to express your interest in getting to know them more personally.
You can send them a gift along with a personal message or you can send them a ‘flirt request’ along with your first message and see if they want to connect with you or not.
Hi5 also allows you to rate different users on their level of attractiveness from a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being not so hot and 10 being the hottest.
If you really hit it off with the person, you can add them to your ‘connections’, ‘favorites’, or ‘admirers’ to have quicker access to their profile in the future.
While hi5 is completely free, every member has the option to buy virtual coins as the official currency to be used in order to buy access to games, gifts, or other goodies depending on what you’re looking for.
Costs of Membership
Unfortunately, while Hi5 is a free social networking and dating website, you may need to pay for some of the games on there in order to play them.
- Virtual Coins
You may use the virtual coins you buy with actual money from your credit or debit card in order to get access to those paid games.
You can check out the latest prices for different games on Hi5 website. Still though, 95% of the features on Hi5 are free and accessible to all members and there’s no paid membership subscriptions available.
Positives and Negatives
Posotives:
- Free
Hi5 is an extremely popular and entertaining social networking and gaming website and it’s free to use. There is no membership costs.
- Large User Base
Hi5 has a huge user base, a wide variety of useful features, and a number of ways to contact other members and make new friends.
- Games
There are plenty of free games you can choose from.
Negatives:
- Not Solely a Dating Site
Unfortunately, the main focus of the website isn’t dating but you can still flirt with other members, send them messages, and ask them out on dates if they live near your area.
Meeting other singles may take a while but at least there are dozens of games available to keep you entertained while you search for a romantic partner.
Conclusion
It’s possible for singles to actually do online dating on Hi5. If you’re bonding together over something you have in common such as your mutual love of Angry Birds, may allow you to begin a conversation and add each other to their friends network.
Through both gaming and social networking, singles can get to know each other better and form a connection leading to some possible dating in the future.
Hi5 offers a great amount of games with the recent total being around 150. Thus, there are plenty of opportunities for you to get to know different members through these gaming outlets. With all of these options, there should be a game or a Hi5 member out there who would pique your interest.
If you’re looking for another way to meet someone on Hi5, you can take advantage of checking out another section of the website known as the ‘Flirt’ section.
In this particular section, you can search for and interact with different members who are looking to meet and date other singles.
You have free reign to use the ‘flirt’ button, check out their profile and photos, send them a message, and begin a conversation to see if there is any chemistry there.
In order to enhance interest, you can post photos to your profile, join different groups that cater to your interests and hobbies, make status updates about yourself, and use the ‘search’ function to find members whom you would like to establish a connection with.
Give Hi5 a try today if you’re looking for a website that combines with social networking and gaming for a truly unique online experience.
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Have you ever found a date on Hi5? How was your overall experience with this website?
