Badoo

Oh, there's money in loneliness. According to Wired magazine Badoo is ‘the internet's most successful hook-up service.' Millions of people around the world use the romantic social networking service to flirt and schmooze. You know it works. Sign up, pepper the net with photos of yourself and a cooler-than-thou profile and watch the lovers come tumbling toward you. 

Like many things in modern life the person behind the screen is a Russian entrepreneur based in London. Andrey Andreev set Badoo up in 2006. His site has become extraordinarily popular in Brazil and hopes to become as big a deal in the Anglo-Saxon world. 

It's free to register on Badoo, but like all websites of this amorous nature you will have pay if you wish to boost your profile. By boosting your profile you stand more chance of being noticed and being noticed is, of course, the reason for hanging out in a digital bar. 

Millions of people have already signed up to Badoo and although it has yet to become a name as big as Mr Zuckerberg's net changing creation it is surely only a matter of time. Now, haven't I seen you somewhere before? 

9 May 2011