Too shy to flirt? New Dutch web service FlirtiZOO may be able to help.

Sign up and they send you flirty calling cards to hand out to potential dates. The cards carry the web address of your online personal profile. It’s like internet dating with people you’ve already met.

Online dating just wasn’t working for FlirtiZOO founder Paul van der Meer.

“The problem is often that people tend to present themselves as more attractive than they really are,” he told Amsterdam daily Het Parool. “They’re often much older or younger, or really married though it says 'single' in their profile. Obviously that's disappointing.”

Click
What’s more, he found he was spending more time checking his e-mail than meeting people and chatting up dates in real life.

So Paul came up with his own idea: a service where you start with someone you’ve actually seen. It could be a person you've spotted across a crowded room or met briefly and felt a click.

But you don’t need to think of a clever opening line or pluck up courage to ask for a phone number. You just hand over your card.

Online profile
The card reads “Was it just a flirt or something more...?" and invites the person to visit the website and check out your "Zoo-ID".

The girl or guy who’s taken your fancy can then look at your profile online and see if they’re interested in taking things further. If they’d like to get to know you better, they can send an e-mail.

International
FlirtiZOO is just starting out and at present it’s basically aimed at Holland. But Paul van der Meer has big plans to go international.

What’s more, if you’ve got 15 euros to spare and a paypal account, there’s nothing to stop you signing up wherever you are – the site is also in English.

Zoo
And why the name? According to the website, “People are ‘secretly’ flirting all the time. Some people flirt like proud peacocks, others like sexy tigresses. And yet others change tactics like a chameleon. Life is like a zoo!”

Illustration: FlirtiZOO

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