As CEO of a company which operates some of the most popular dating sites on the net, I'm uniquely positioned to provide some clear and concise facts about the global phenomenon of online dating. In six bite-sized chunks I'm going to give you the whole truth about a past-time that has become part of the fabric of the lives of single people everywhere where a computer screen is affordable by, or accessible to the masses.

1. Two out of every five single people aged 24 - 50 currently use, or have used an online dating service. Yes, you read that correctly - it's 40%! Now think of all the single friends you have; how many of them have actually told you that they've signed-up to a site in order to kick start their love lives? Not many I would wager. That's because in spite of the popularity of the medium, there is a still a social stigma attached to dating sites; when people meet a partner this way, they generally pretend to their friends that they've met in a bar or at some kind of party or work related function. One of the fastest growing activities in the world is still something most people wont admit to doing.

2. Only about 5% of people who join dating sites actually end up in a relationship with someone they first make contact with at their chosen site. Let's equate this to the 'real' world; you walk into a room full of one hundred strangers and how many of them would you be attracted to? Probably no more than ten. And that's if you're lucky. It's the same in cyberspace - how many total strangers will there be on any site that really press all the right buttons for you? So when you register with a site, don't expect miracles because your love life in cyberspace is no different to the reality of everyday life.

3. Only 10% of people who join dating sites get any messages at all from other members. There's a reason for this - the other 90% don't deserve any success. People who refuse to upload photos of themselves or post profiles which look like they can't really be bothered to say anything about themselves will just be ignored. The 10% who get noticed create upbeat, confident, humorous profiles, don't have any qualms about posting a picture of themselves and are proactive about contacting other members. If your site doesn't work for you, you shouldn't blame the site just as a bad workman shouldn't blame his tools.

4. Popular dating sites are popular for one reason and one reason only. They work. In every territory, you'll find a handful of sites that outstrip all the others in terms of the volume of their registrations and their reputations in general. You'll also find that none of these sites are free. The sites which look the best, have the best features and offer good customer service are expensive to run and maintain. You get what you pay for on line as well as in all walks of life; if the owners of a dating site don't have the confidence in their product to actually charge for it, you have to ask yourself why that is. Relatively speaking, joining a dating site is very inexpensive compared to, say, going out for a nice meal or taking a trip to the theatre and the potential of finding a great new relationship makes the risk/reward ratio a no-brainer.

5. Global sites which can boast hundreds of thousands of members from all four corners of the globe are a waste of time unless you're looking for a pen-pal. These sites might sound rather impressive - "We have 5,000,000 members worldwide!!" - but so what? What you should be concerned with when you're choosing a site is how many members they have in your city, your town or your village. So if you're serious about finding a partner, stick to city or country specific sites and take the 'global' hype with a pinch of salt.

6. The percentage of men on dating sites is disproportionate to that of women. Most services comprise about 60% men and 40% women so as far as the on line arena is concerned, it's the girls who are calling the shots. They have more choice and can therefore be more discerning about who they contact or write back to. So guys, if you want to stand out from the crowd, check out paragraph 3 above; write a great profile and post a flattering pic and you'll be just fine.

So there you have it; to make a success of online dating, all you have to do is pick the right site and post an eye-catching profile and photo and if it works for you...don't keep it a big secret - tell your single friends all about it so they can get a piece of the action too!