MeetMe is an online dating app that functions as a social network with the purpose of helping you meet new people. It is not geared to any specific type of person or audience. It can be best described as a general interest “friend discovery” app. In order to determine how effective it is — and to whom it would be the most useful — we conducted this MeetMe app review.

— Pros and Cons of MeetMe —

Pros

• Very popular app, over 100 million users
• Free
• Easy to download and install on iPhone and Android

Cons

• Many members are minors
• Better suited for socializing, not dating
• Display advertising is present in free version

— In Depth MeetMe App Review —

When you think of a social network, your mind will first rush to sites such as Facebook or SnapChat — perhaps MySpace and Friendster if you are close to retirement age. Few of you, however, will make the connection to online dating sites. In a way, the majority of online dating and hookup sites share attributes in common with social media sites. After all, they all take a large grouping of people and then through a commonality of interests — brings them together in smaller, more intimate groups. True, this can take on many manifestations. On Facebook, this might mean reuniting with old classmates — while on Tinder, it might mean hooking up for a quickie during lunch. Either way, they are both bringing like-minded people together.

— A Little Background on MeetMe —

MeetMe started its existence as MyYearbook.com in 2005. To give you some perspective, that was barely less than a year after Mark Zuckerberg had started Facebook at Harvard. It was started by two high school students and — no surprise — its original target demographic was exclusive to teens. Today, MeetMe has diversified its target audience, but the site is still open to anybody 13 years and older. This is a point that you should keep in mind before using the site. While adults do outnumber teens, the fact that minors are present definitely changes the dynamic of the site. You must exercise great caution regarding with whom you converse and what you say.

As far as accessibility, over 90 percent of its current 100 million users access it as a mobile app. It should be noted, however, that the app can also be accessed via a desktop browser.

— MeetMe App Registration —

You can register on MeetMe by downloading the iPhone or Android version of the app, or through its website. You can use your Facebook credentials to fast track the registration process — or register manually using a valid email address. In our testing, registration took less than one minute.

After you register, you can start building your profile. Your MeetMe profile is basic — it includes routine items such as your age, location, and gender. You can also provide additional information such as your religion, profession, educational background, and of course, you can upload pictures. One picture will serve as your main profile picture, the remaining pictures will appear on your profile page as “additional images.”

— MeetMe App Functionality —

MeetMe has three main features — they are called “Meet,” “Chat,” and “Feed.” The Meet function presents you with the profiles of other members that are near you and that are deemed to be compatible with your profile. By clicking on the image icon of any member, you will be directed to their profile page. There you can see their profile pic and send a chat request if you are interested in them.

The Chat function allows you to send other members a message which they can read when they log in or engage in a live chat if they are online. The live chat function includes text-only and video versions.

The Feed function allows you to see a timeline of status updates and posts made by other members whom you follow. Very “Facebookish” in our opinion.

— Type of People You Meet —

What struck us most during the testing of MeetMe was the large membership base. Regardless of where you access the app, you are bound to be served with a multitude of other “compatible” members. Where we did have an issue was in the rather incoherent way in which members are presented to you in terms of compatibility. We were literally served with members of all age ranges and vastly differing interests. While interesting if your intent on MeetMe is purely to get to know people — if you are interested in using it as a dating site, this is tremendously inconvenient.

— Cost of MeetMe —

MeetMe is a free app. It is monetized by advertisements that appear on your screen. During our test, most of these advertisements were not obtrusive, however, on the Android version of the app, we did encounter some performance issues when certain ads were served. It made the app run very slowly. We assume that this sort of problem will be corrected soon by MeetMe.

There is a paid version of the App known as MeetMe+. This has a monthly cost of $7.99. This removes the display ads and provides you with improved placement of your profile on the search results of others. The premium version also allows you to see all images posted by other members’ on their profile — not just their main profile pic. You can also opt to purchase blocks of credits known as “lunch money” which you can use to play games on the app, to send secret admirer notifications, or to activate stealth browsing mode.