Jane and Andreas Palikira are celebrating Valentines day with a night in. They met 10 years ago through online dating site Match.com and went on to become one of the company's first Match marriages. They're now have twin daughters Alessia and Sophia. 　　Match.Com was one of the first internet dating sites - setting up shop in America in 1995. It's now in 25 countries and has many competitors. Last February it saw six million visits during the month - with the most in the week up to Valentine's Day. The eHarmony website also claims to be responsible for 5 percent of all marriages in the United States. And one in three internet users regard the web as a good place to find a partner. 　　Karl Gregory is Match.com's Managing Director for the UK & Ireland. 　　Karl Gregory: "Online dating has changed hugely in the last 10 years, certainly we know their was an embarrassment factor, today that embarrassment factor has crumbled away. 　　In Britain it's estimated almost half the singles' population have tried internet dating and romance is a valuable source of income. A recent survey showed that around £3.4 billion pounds a year is spent by UK singles when dating. 　　Karl Gregory: "There are some interesting differences. If we compare the way we date in the UK versus the U.S. The U.S. are in to their multi-dating while I think in the UK and then there's markets like Germany where education is a really important part of society so surfacing degrees and your education as part of the profile is a lot more important in Germany versus the UK." 　　Andreas and Jane were among the first internet daters in the UK. They say many of their friends have tried it since and gone on to find love. Not all of them are married with two children but online dating is clearly a growth market - and in the current economic climate that's worth celebrating. (Hayley Platt/ Reuters)