FriendsForFamilies.com Launches Nationwide

FriendsForFamilies.com, created to match families with other families for supportive friendships, has launched nationally.

Asheville, NC (PRWEB) September 23, 2006 -- FriendsForFamilies.com launched nationally today, providing the first online matching service that connects families with other families for lasting friendships.

“There’s nothing ‘virtual’ about the sense of community we’re trying to foster,” said John McAuley, Chief Executive Officer of FriendsForFamilies.com. “Our site is for people who want to participate in activities with local families like their own, and continue getting together for years to come.”

The FriendsForFamilies.com matching system offers a secure, anonymous way to view profiles of other families and contact them.

Members fill out a questionnaire that generates profiles of their families. The profiles list family traits, interests, values and preferences without addresses, names or other identifying information.

When families find a potential match, they can communicate anonymously through the Web site’s message system. Each family decides when to release contact information to one of its matches. Only verified members can see the profiles.

“This is one of the most difficult times for families to meet similar, likeminded families,” McAuley said. “The idea behind our site is to reduce the time and randomness involved in finding compatible families, much like online dating sites do.”

Many people have a difficult time finding strong, supportive friendships in their community, and neighbors don’t talk as much anymore, he said.

Furthermore, the U.S. population is shifting, and relocating families are moving into established communities where they have little or no social network. The U.S. Census Bureau projects a population shift to the South and West through 2030.

The shift is happening as Americans are finding fewer friends, McAuley said. The June 2006 edition of the American Sociological Review published research that said 25 percent of Americans have no close friends.

Harvard professor Robert D. Putnam, interviewed in the July 2 edition of The New York Times, said, “The real interesting future is how can we use the Net to strengthen and deepen relationships that we have offline.”

During the next two weeks, FriendsForFamilies.com is offering one-year memberships for $1.99. For less than a trip to Starbucks, a family can join FriendsForFamilies.com and begin searching for other local families with similar values, traits and interests.

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