DATING CRACKERS FOR CHRISTMAS

As the Christmas party season kicks off, partygoers can better their chances of finding a suitable date by making note of the hottest dating buzzwords of 2004.

A survey by Friends Reunited Dating, the dating service of the famous Friends Reunited site, has revealed that 'shy' is the most popular word in the online dating game. It's the description used most often in personal profiles written by people looking for romance on the internet.

The research, which is the first of its kind, reveals what is hot and what is not amongst people looking for love online.

Dating buzzwords likely to lead to some magic mistletoe moments include 'shy', 'honest', 'pub', 'smoker' and 'caring'. Other descriptions such as 'sporty', 'wine-lover', and 'happy' are also very popular amongst the ever-increasing online dating community.

And to avoid getting stuck with David Brent types at your Christmas party or to put an end to a Bridget Jones-style single life, the description not to use is home-loving, solvent veggie who enjoys going to gigs!

Rhoda Moore, Head of Romance at Friends Reunited Dating, said: "The popularity of the word shy is intriguing, because using a dating site maybe regarded as a brave thing to do.

"Indeed some of our shy members admit to having been apprehensive about registering as they imagined it was just for extroverts, but what they found was a site catering for all types."

The findings come from a study on Friends Reunited Dating, www.friendsreuniteddating.co.uk, the UK's fastest growing dating site. New visitors to the site register by filling in a short profile about themselves with the option to add a photo. This profile is available for other members to view and make contact. Members can also run a detailed search for potential new friends and partners specifying location, religion, hair and eye colour, height, build and ethnic background amongst other criteria.

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Friends Reunited Dating can also reveal that:

• Staying in really does appear to be the new going out. It's eighth on the list of descriptors that will generate a big response.
• Describing yourself as a clubber will get you the same number of enquiries as saying you enjoy watching television.
• Rugby fans get more interest from potential dates than do football fans.
• The classic GSOH, short for 'good sense of humour' seems to be on its way out. It comes 16th in the list of commonly used descriptors.

For case studies or to receive more information about Friends Reunited Dating, contact Carolynne Bull-Edwards or Victoria Reed on: 01883 717468 / 07932 723866 or email press@friendsreunited.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

• Friends Reunited Dating launched in 2003.
• The site has approximately 300,000 dating members with around 1000 new members, aged 18 to 80, joining the service every day - real people looking for genuine relationships.
• Currently, there are 9780 people from Manchester registered on the site, 4051 from Nottingham, 8991 from Birmingham, 3848 from Bristol, 5603 from Liverpool and 4286 from Portsmouth.
• It is free to join, anonymous, confidential, and comes at a fraction of the price of most other sites.

The facts;

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