A Networking Aid for Our Lonely Generation

By HELEN BRUCE

IT’S a heartbreaking truth, but the word most frequently Googled in Ireland turns out to be ‘lonely’.

The sad discovery has prompted a group of entrepreneurs to set up a new online lonely hearts page modelled on hit social networking sites Facebook and Bebo.

Website www.lonely.ie was launched yesterday to provide a forum for people keen to meet and widen their social circles.

It was created following find ings by the new service Google Trends which works out how many searches have been done via the internet search engine on particular terms.

Google Trends discovered that ‘lonely’ was the word entered most frequently by Internet users in Ireland. Other places that have recorded similar statistics for lonely are Melbourne, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.

Comedian Karl Spain helped kick off the website yesterday.

He met his girlfriend of two years, Rachel O’Keefe, through a TV programme which broadcast his search for love. He fell for the Limerick lass during the last few days of the show.

The RTE2 series Karl Spain Wants A Woman showed the 30+ star trying speed-dating, dating agencies and internet dating.

Karl said of the new site yesterday: ‘Everything helps.

‘Different things work for different people.

‘Speed dating works for some people, who like talking and making quick impressions. Other people are more shy and feel more confident in their anonymity, sitting at home and thinking of what to say.

‘Other people find that what suits them is a dating agency. They are all valid ways of meeting someone.’ He added: ‘I couldn’t believe that lonely was the most searched for word. Unless there are a lot of Police fans out there looking for So Lonely.

‘Other than that they must be people who are checking out who else is lonely out there, which is rather sad.’ Karl said he wasn’t an expert in dating, he was just lucky to have found love. ‘It’s a bit like being a lottery winner. It doesn’t make you an expert on winning the Lotto. You’ve just struck it lucky.’ Irene Gahan, Marketing Manager of Lonely.ie, said busy, modern lifestyles made it hard for people to find love.

‘I think it’s extremely sad that “lonely” is the most frequent search. And I think it’s indicative of where Ireland has gone in the last five years.

‘People spend so much time in their cars and offices, we aren’t spending time extending our social circles.

‘A lot of people still have their original friends from school or college or work. But they are not taking that next step.’ Miss Gahan added: ‘Meeting strangers in a bar or a club is hard.

‘It’s a lot easier to meet likeminded people in a secure online environment than taking a chance of meeting someone special in a crowded pub.

‘Lonely.ie will ease the pressure of meeting new people and create a fun online environment for people to widen their social network.’ Lonely.ie users will be able to upload their profile in a secure and private setting which can only be viewed by other users who have been accepted as friends.

In addition to the features normally found on social networking sites, such as uploading photo albums and having online space to write about yourself, Lonely.ie allows its members to find other users through various categories, such as free to date, attached or just looking for friendship.

Unlike many dating sites, it is free to register.

The website managers hope it will eventually make its money by charging users for extra services such as blog pages.

The site gives Irish people a chance to share their dating woes and to get some tips from other members and dating experts.

Each month a singleton is chosen who is thought to have had the worst dating disaster, winning E500 for their story.

Lonely.ie will also regularly give free tickets to gigs, cinema and the theatre and the site’s resident expert, Cameron Cruise, will dish out his monthly ‘What Women Want’ column.

Website managers New Media Lottery Services operate a number of lottery sites across the world, the most local being Rehab Bingo.com where players have won close to E20million.

It also operates the not-for-profit Rehab Group.

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