Claire Woffenden, of the UK's Webuser Internet Magazine, reports some hitwise stats on the increasing popularity of social networking sites dedicated to dating:

The number of people visiting dating websites has increased by 45 per cent since January 2003, with the online dating sector now representing 0.8 per cent of all online visits.

Popular sites include Match.com, FriendsReunited Dating, Friendster.com and Gaydar – the UK's top gay dating website. Almost a third of visitors are aged between 25 and 34, while 34 per cent live in London and the South East.

Statistics also show that visitors are spending 13 minutes and 18 seconds on a dating site, which is nearly twice the amount of time that internet users spend on sites in general (six minutes and 47 seconds).

Since January 2003, almost 200 new dating sites have emerged on the internet, although 60 per cent of traffic still goes to the top 10 dating sites.