PlanetRomeo (Goodbye Guys4Men)

Reading various blogs, I came upon the news that Guys4Men and PlanetRomeo were joining forces. It was a surprise for me moreso because obviously I haven't been accessing my account in Guys4Men. The G4M user profiles will be integrated to PlanetRomeo's web applications. So, out with the old website and in with the new.





I would expect many reactions to this development as many, like me, were so used to the look and feel (and navigation) of the G4M website. I wasn't there when this was announced in the website but I am sure that it did raise a furor. The forums would have been filled with protests and complaints. As we all know, change is inevitable and no matter how much ranting is done the change was going to push through and it did.

I have had an account with G4M for a long time. It was one way of getting seen and seeing other PLUs. A lot of other websites provided the same function - Tagged, Downelink, gay.com, Manjam, etc - but for Filipinos, G4M holds a distinction. I, myself, was already so adept maneouvering the website - the user search, the chatroom, the forums. When I got around to read the news of the merging, the deed was done. So, instead of checking my G4M account, I typed the PlanetRomeo website on my address bar and checked if indeed they have carried over my account. I typed in my User Name and Password. Indeed, I was able to log in and my profile from G4M was now in PlanetRomeo.

What are the changes I have observed? The biggest one is that that forums only existed within an established group. Meaning, a group had to be created first and from there, one can access the group's forum. As mentioned, the new website allows people to establish groups. So, depending on your interests, a group can be created, much like those in Yahoo, Friendster and Facebook. Instead of messages sent to email addresses as done in Yahoo, the groups in PlanetRomeo are similar to Friendster and Facebook where in it can hold forums and share pictures. The user profiles now read as one page instead of having a tab and passwords are not needed for private pictures. Any pictures set to be shown on the profile are public. If one has pictures they would only like to show to selected individuals, manage those in a folder and only attach them to messages. When one logs in, he can set his status as - Chat, Friends, Nothing, Relationship, Date, Sex, Busy, Away, and Invisible. When using Search or viewing user profiles, the status will set the expectation of those viewing on what you are looking for. The most noticeable change for G4M users will be that of the presence of color. The website is primarily in blue and then user profiles are now customizeable, with over 40 profile design templates to choose from.

There are still a lot of things to familiarize myself with in PlanetRomeo. Why don't you give it a try and see what it can do for you? You will find as useful as what G4M has been and maybe more. Maybe through this new website you will find your next FUBU, partner or friend. Check it out.