There are a wealth of online dating sites on the Internet and many of them have been rather successful; particularly in niche segments such as JDate. However a recent startup, Thread, formerly frintro, just relaunched with a sonic boom.

As part of Facebook’s incubator program frintro rebranded as Thread and is solely focused on online match making. From a design and usability perspective this site is top notch. Facebook recognized this company’s efforts with funding of $1.2MM.

Wisely leveraging Facebook’s Connect, users can easily begin finding their next partner. It enables users to leverage the wealth of information already on their respective Facebook profile to use on the Thread profile. Additionally, users can playmatch maker for others by perusing friends of friends and making connections that way.

What is left to be seen is how the company will generate revenues. I would imagine that in the near future there could be the implementation of virtual goods to enhance one’s profile to make it more attractive or differentiate it from other profiles. Additional questions also remain as to whether users are comfortable revealing so much information to prospective suitors. Stronger privacy controls may be in store for this site.

Existing dating sites such as Match.com and eHarmony have been laggards in adopting social media as part of their platform since social networking can almost be a free version of online dating. I could anticipate an acquisition in Thread’s future either from a media conglomerate like Barry Diller’s IAC.

Below are some screenshots that I took while testing the site. Full disclosure, I am happily married and just wanted to check out what I think is a promising startup.

Thread.com in less than a minute from Thread.com on Vimeo.