Friends For Families, a sort of match.com for families, quotes a study that says 25% of people claim that that they have no close personal friends. They aim to help families find other, compatible families to establish friendships. At its core it’s a match.com for families (without the dating and sex, I assume). It will officially launch on September 19.
There is no free version of the site (mistake no. 1) – users must pay a yearly fee of $20 to participate or even to browse member profiles. You can view a Flash tour from a link on the home page if you want to see some of the features. I went ahead and spent the $20 to take a look. You fill out a very detailed profile (I’m a single father with my adopted “child”, a brown labrador retriever named Laguna). The questionairre includes questions on lifestyle, political views, income, restaurant habits, hobbies, and even an incredibly inclusive range of religions (I chose “primal-indegenous” and “neo-paganism”).
The company then uses this profile information to match you with other local families that share similar interests. You can then network with each other and arrange BBQs and softball games, I suppose.
The company is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. For those lonely families out there, this may be just the thing you were looking for.