FLIRTNET - PRESS
RELEASE [issued 7 February 2005]
“When Frikkie Met Irene” - By Gus Silber
How Flirtnet’s 21st Century Technology Helped Two
True Lovers Meet Their Match, Just In Time for Valentine’s
Day
Giddy with glee, dizzy with the scent of perfume and roses,
the season of love is upon us. And that means lots of work
for Cupid, the chubby little cherub whose mission on this
planet is to set human hearts aflutter.
But even in the timeless tradition of Valentine’s
Day, the times they are a-changing.
These days, Cupid is no longer obliged to reach into his
quiver and aim his weapon of choice at starry-eyed couples
whose destinies will forever be intertwined.
After all, why send an arrow, when you can send an SMS?
For proof of Cupid’s new matchmaking strategy in
action, look no further than Frikkie Jacobs and Irene Malherbe,
engaged to be married only a year after they first gave
each other a ring.
Well, not quite a ring...
More like a BEEP.
Thanks to Flirtnet, a mobile phone dating service run by
MyBeat Interactive, one of IT billionaire Mark Shuttleworth’s
energetic young start-up companies, Frikkie and Irene found
true love after a series of SMS conversations led to a tentative
get-together at Johannesburg International Airport.
Frikkie, a retired (auditor) and former Springbok boxer
from Kempton Park, knew he had found his soulmate as soon
as he laid eyes on Irene, a gentle-hearted widow from the
small town of (Patensie) in the Eastern Cape.
Now the couple have set the date – March 19, 2005
– for their wedding in Pretoria, with invitations
going out by (you guessed it) Short Message Service.
“We are very much in love,” says Frikkie. “This
is the best thing that could have happened to us. And to
think it all started with a `Please call me’ message
on my phone!”
Like the more than 100,000 other members of Flirtnet across
the country, Frikkie submitted his concise profile (“Single
pensioner from Kempton Park, 60 years old, who loves animals
and outdoor life”) and awaited responses via the swift
and convenient medium that has come to set the pace for
interpersonal communication in the 21st Century.
On the other side of the network, Irene liked what she
read. The couple SMSed each other for a while, confining
their courtship to text messages of no more than 160 characters
at a time.
Then they decided to meet face to face, at a neutral venue
where love, like a jet-plane, was in the air. And that’s
when things really started taking off.
“It was love at first sight,” says Irene. “After
only a week, we decided to get married. We carried on courting
on the cell-phone in-between visiting each other.”
For Flirtnet director and co-founder Rodney Kuhn, this
is a love story with a simple message for us all: “Sometimes,”
he says, “fate and destiny need a little push...and
nothing pushes buttons faster than a message sent by SMS.
We’re delighted that Frikkie and Irene are getting
married to each other, and we hope it’ll be the first
of many successful relationships brought about by a technology
that knows no boundaries.”
And as for that chubby little cherub who set the whole
thing off? Well, like everyone else in our fast-paced age,
Cupid is now contactable by cell. Just SMS the word FLIRT
to 34356, and watch him work his magic in this season of
love…and beyond.
*For more information, visit www.flirtnet.co.za,
or contact Rodney Kuhn on 083 456-7224.
