Online dating: Love is just a click away

By Tamsin Kelly Published: 7:00AM GMT 12 Feb 2010

Something just clicked: attractive singletons are now turning to internet dating Photo: JACQUI BOYD

It"s lunchtime and lawyer Jane Kelly is busy tapping away at her laptop in a crowded City sandwich bar. But she"s not catching up with work, she"s firing off an email to her date for the evening, a man she"s never met but whose emails make her smile, as they arrange where and when to meet for a drink.

""A few years ago, people would say something along the lines of, "you are brave" or, "surely you don"t need to do that?" " recalls Kelly, 36. "Now the question is more likely to be, "which site are you using?" Everybody"s doing it even some of my mother"s friends."

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According to the dating site Parship (www.parship.co.uk) seven million Britons, half of all single people, will log on to find love this year. And they won"t simply be looking to ward off temporary boredom or loneliness one in five online daters will marry someone they meet online.

As Brett Harding, founder of Lovestruck (www.lovestruck.com) says, ""the perception of online dating only being for the desperate vanishes when you discover your own friends are hard at it.""

Daters can join a cash-and-carry-style site such as Match (www.match.com) the biggest in Britain, or opt for more personalised matchmaking skills. Parship matches people using "a scientific personality test", while eHarmony (www.eharmony.co.uk) offers "a patented compatibility matching system". Whatever your interests, there"s bound to be a site for you: Muddy Matches (www.muddymatches.co.uk, for anyone who leads a welly boot lifestyle); Classical Partners (www.classicalpartners.co.uk for those who believe that music is the food of love); a website for pet lovers (www.petspartnersandpals.co.uk) and, of course, the Telegraph"s own dating site Kindred Spirits (www.dating.telegraph.co.uk)

As technology improves, searching for your perfect match online is becoming more sophisticated. Harding gleefully conjures up a brave new world of date-stamped profile pictures (if you"re in your forties, that glowing university summer ball picture just won"t do) and "real time" profiles.

Instead of tedious paragraphs about your GSOH (good sense of humour) and love of long walks, your profile will be linked to Facebook and Twitter, so prospective partners can check out your credibility with friends, and even what you did at the weekend.

Alarmingly, Harding predicts a time when first dates will occur via a brutal-sounding video call, installed on your iPhone.

""If the chemistry is there, you can agree to meet. If it"s not, it makes sense not to waste each other"s time,"" he says. ""The first date could also be a virtual one in a scene of your choice. Members will have avatars and will change their expressions and gestures by clicking a mouse."

For many, this will probably be a techno step too far. What if one wrong click results in an unintended gesture? But today, even for the technology-phobic, there"s no excuse to be home alone when the modern way of looking for love is so easy.

10 WAYS TO FIND A PARTNER

Get a dog Pongo and Perdy played cupid for their owners in 101 Dalmatians and adventurer Ben Fogle met his wife Marina when both were walking their dogs in Hyde Park.Go on holiday Spa breaks, yoga holidays and gentle walking trips often have more women, meaning there is less male competition. Skiing, mountain climbing and white-water rafting suit women hoping to meet outdoorsy types.Join a gym This only works for body-confident people who wont fall off the equipment and can cope with figure-hugging clothes (worn-out trackies wont do). Even if you dont meet the love of your life, at least youll be in better shape. Volunteer Get outdoors and active for optimum bonding. Try BTCV green gyms (www2.btcv.org.uk) or National Trust working holidays (www.nationaltrust.org.uk/volunteers).Go on a flirting tour Jean Smith, a relationships expert, offers singles Flirting and Walking Tours in London (www.jean-smith.com. Next date: February 18).Get your skates on for the chance to "bump" into attractive strangers on the ice rink.Go shopping Hardware shops are a good place to pick up a capable man no matter if you dont know your wrenches from your pliers. Take up a macho sport Not netball. But be warned: the more rugged the activity (think indoor rock climbing centres, triathlons, diving courses), the more hideous the clothes required (bottom-clutching harnesses, swimming hats, wetsuits).Do what you like best If you love singing, join a choir. If youve been meaning to brush up your Italian, enrol in an evening class.Throw a party with a friend Mixing up your mates is a fun way to socialise, and you never know who you might meet. And say yes to invitations, no matter how hideous they sound. Theres nothing like bonding over a cringe-making situation.