An online community of virtual characters has sprung up on Friends Reunited as more than one million WeeMees were born in 2004 with members creating animated versions of themselves to bring their profiles to life.
A WeeMee is the fun alternative to a photo and can be created to reflect the looks, style and personality of the member by choosing hairstyle, eye colour, clothes, expression and interest.
But what does a WeeMee say about someone? It appears that the Friends Reunited members behind the WeeMees are happy and healthy with over 70% of men and 77% of women choosing happy smiley expressions for former classmates to remember them by and a variety of sporting interests from football to snowboarding.
Jon Clark, Friends Reunited's WeeMeeologist, said: "Members can design a WeeMee to suit their mood, tastes and style. They are just a bit of fun that we have added as a free optional facility for members to add to their profile on the site and they're proving very popular. After all why would you want to post a less than flattering photo of yourself when you can design a WeeMee instead and stay forever youthful?”
Chief Executive WeeMeeologist Co-founders, Friends Reunited
Friends Reunited was launched in October 2000 by North London based husband and wife team Julie and Steve Pankhurst so that people could get in contact with their old school friends. A combination of word of mouth and immense media attention has propelled the site to phenomenon status, expanding beyond the school friends proposition to include workplaces, teams/clubs and streets. The site has over 11 million members, representing 42% of the adult internet population in the UK .
50/50 male/female split
Men
34% of men chose to wear a T-shirt for the casual look, but only 14% pick a shirt and tie
The short scruffy hairstyle is favourite for the men (16%), followed by short back and sides (13%)
Not surprisingly football is top of the interest list with 26% of blokes featuring the sport in their WeeMee profile
Women
25.5% of the ladies chose to wear strappy tops, followed by bikinis (11.5%)
44% opted for trousers over a skirt (2% of men opted for a skirt)
Long straight hair wins in the fashion stakes with 34% of ladies choosing this hairstyle, followed by pig tails (18%)
Handbags are a must girlie accessory with close to a quarter (24%) choosing to add one to their WeeMee
62% of ladies go for the coquettish look by adding eye lashes to their WeeMee