South Florida-based MyCircles, an online dating and networking portal for adults specializing in alternative lifestyles, has launched in beta and is accepting free registrations for memberships into its communities.
According to MyCircles founder Leon Gomez, "MyCircles has already amassed a substantial number of registrations from word-of-mouth referrals. We had thousands of members pre-register in the weeks leading up to our beta launch from 58 countries around the world. We are very excited to see the positive response we have received from around the world."
MyCircles allows members to post profiles, search for other members, upload photo galleries, post blogs, and read about local events, while specializing in alternative lifestyles. "Those who are already familiar with MyCircles through local events in South Florida have come to expect the most fun and most exciting opportunities with our community," Gomez said. "People who know us, love what we are about: meeting quality people through a fresh venue. We want those in our community to truly feel they are part of a community, and—so far—our community has really pulled together to get the word out about MyCircles."
MyCircles is a membership-based site geared toward adults with alternative lifestyles. "We do not intend to be nor ever will be a site that is full of teenagers like MySpace. We feel there are enough sites that cater to young adults and teenagers and we will not be one of them," said Gomez. "Our plans are to have some portions of MyCircles as free communities and other areas that have adult content on them, which will require a paid membership. At this time, we are a free site for all of the communities, though, and we will continue to operate as a free site until we have all of the components that we are building in place. In the next couple of weeks, we will be adding our MyCircles Messenger and other features that enable us to compete with any full-service portal.
"We are requiring all users to go through an age-verification process to ensure that our members are all over eighteen years of age," he continued. "In the future, we will be offering all of our U.S. users a free criminal-background check that also includes a screening for sexual offenders. There have been many stories written about unfortunate incidents where someone has been victimized by a person they have met online, and we feel that by offering the criminal-background check, our members will have a better idea of whom they are dealing with. We want to offer our members the tools they need to enjoy themselves in as safe of an environment as possible."
Providing consumers an opportunity to choose what communities they belong to while still being able to maintain their privacy was a focal point in the development of MyCircles, Gomez added. "We feel that many people go online and hide behind a screen name because they are fearful to express who they truly are and show their lifestyle preferences, because they do not know who will be seeing their profiles online," he said. "By joining MyCircles, our members will be able to join the 'Circles' that interest them and know that only the other members of the same circle are able to see the members of that community. Our motto is: 'Be yourself'—and we encourage everyone who joins MyCircles to freely express themselves."
Adults who join MyCircles during the beta period will be rewarded with special incentives, including membership bonuses and registration for prize giveaways, Gomez said.
