VoIP turns match-maker in "love 3.0"

A Canadian dating website has reportedly introduced a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) facility to help its members find that special someone online, according to reports.

Canada's Globe and Mail says the site, Plentyoffish, is using VoIP as part of a strategy design to tailor the online dating experience to the interests of users.

With 600,000 people logging on to the site every day, VoIP could help users to find people in tune with their own tastes and preferences.

The system works by allowing users to contact people they are interested in meeting and leave them a VoIP voice message. If the person they leave the message for adds that user to a preferred list, the next VoIP call goes directly to their phone.

Online dating - so-called "love 3.0" - can be big business if sites can attract and maintain users, the newspaper says, with sites' values based on actual income from user subscriptions and advertising, rather than future potential.

Plentyoffish alone generates C$10 million (£5.08 million) in revenue, it adds.

The number of residential VoIP users is predicted to reach 197.2 million by 2010.