Friends Reunited has assembled a Friendship Panel to act as media spokespeople and ambassadors for the brand.
The panel comprises five members of the site each of whom represent the different 'ages' of friendship and Dr Malcolm Cross, Head of Psychology at City University London who will give his psychological interpretations of stories and findings. Overseeing the panel is Head of Friends Reunited Jon Clark.
The members were selected from over 250 people who responded to a call out on the Friends Reunited homepage for contributors to the Panel. They each have their own stories of how the site has helped change their lives.
Jon Clark, Chairman of the Panel, said: "With access to a membership base of over 19 million members, the Panel is intended to be positioned as a leading authority on the subject of friendship in general as well as the Friends Reunited community. A key aspect to their role involves initiating, developing and analysing some of the biggest studies surrounding the issue of friendship to ever be conducted."
The Panel's first task was to brainstorm key issues affecting friendship. They came up with, six potential areas to explore in more detail and then polled the membership base to see which invited the most interest.
The poll revealed that the majority of Friends Reunited's members wanted to know how the issue of how money affects friendship. A survey was released and attracted 5,112 responses.
Clark says: "By analysing the findings in relation to age, gender, region and household income, the research has thrown up some fascinating insights into the state of friendship in the UK today.
In addition to being portrayed as a group, each panel member will bring different 'aspects' of the friendship mix at different times. The Panel members are aged from 24 to 56 and come from all across the UK.
The six panel members sitting alongside Jon Clark are:
Dr Malcolm Cross is Head of Psychology at City University London with special interests in gender and psychological well-being, counselors and counseling psychologists. He is also Dean of Students at the University, helping them to make the most of their time at City. He trained as a clinical psychologist in Australia before moving to the UK to undertake his PhD and planned to return to Australia after four years, but 15 years on is still enjoying life in England.
29 years old and a company director, Rebecca was contacted by her father through the site after 19 years apart. Despite her busy schedule, Rebecca always finds time for her friends and is often found teaching her pet parrot Toby to swear!
37 year old Juliette from Coventry, prides herself on her happy-go-lucky outlook. Mum to a teenager, by day she's a sales and marketing executive and a singer songwriter by night.
Business networking guru, David brings his years of friendship experience to the panel. The 58 year-old lives in London with his wife and boasts friends all over the world. He never misses an opportunity to bring people together.
24 year old Jenna, can't sit still for more than 5 minutes and when she's not at work designing homeware, spends all her free time meeting up with friends and traveling to far flung places.
38 year Martin runs a window blinds business, but his true passion is reading and writing books. His first novel is due to be published in October.
Friends Reunited was launched in July 2000 and swiftly turned into a media phenomenon. Since then it has grown from being one of Britain's most favourite websites into a national institution. What began as a back-bedroom hobby to put old school friends back in touch with each other has developed into the unofficial 'People's Who's Who' by including workplaces, teams/clubs, streets and armed forces. It currently has over 18 million members worldwide and operates in four countries. Each week, an average of 35,500 people join the site. Since 2005, Friends Reunited has been owned by the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster, ITV.
For more information contact Victoria Reed or Carolynne Bull-Edwards on: 01883 717468 or email press@friendsreunited.co.uk