The search for love is often a long and winding road with no apparent end in sight, particularly after coming out of a painful break-up from a previous relationship.

In today's fast and furious world, many people seem to put an age limit on when they can meet 'The One', and if it doesn't happen by then, the temptation is to close the door on the possibility of ever finding the right partner.

However, since the advent of the internet, the landscape of social encounters with members of the opposite sex has changed, not least with the emergence of online dating.

A new study has found that you are now more likely to find true love on the net in the US than the more conventional routes of meeting someone at work or at a party.

The research, carried out by Harris Interactive, quizzed 10,000 people in the US who got married during an 18-month period in 2006 and 2007.

The results showed that 19 per cent of the couples met through online dating, while 17 per cent met at work and 17 per cent met through being set up by mutual friends.

With the internet still in its infancy in the grand scheme of things, the rate at which the net is taking over the dating scene can be seen by comparing this latest study to a previous one conducted two years earlier.

That survey, which took in 5,000 couples who married between September 2004 and August 2005, showed that just 14 per cent met online, compared with 20 per cent at work and 17 per cent through friends.

As Galen Buckwalter of eHarmony, an online matchmaking company based in Pasadena, California, explains: "Wanting to get married and not going online will soon be seen as equivalent to trying to find an address by driving around randomly, rather than using a map."

And in relation to the prospect of finding true love being an unlikely quest after a certain age has been reached, the latest study made some particularly interesting findings.

The data showed that 31 per cent of married couples between the ages of 45 and 54 met after using an online dating service, while the figure was 18 per cent for 20 to 44-year-olds - who presumably have more opportunities for meeting people through college or university.

As the online dating craze continues to spread, such figures could go even higher as people become more proficient in describing themselves to making finding their perfect match that little bit easier.

Andrew Fiore, who studies online dating at the University of California in Berkeley, said: "People aren't that great at describing themselves accurately, so expect more experiential online dating activities and games that help you get to know someone."

What remains clear is that however sceptical you may be about meeting your true love over the internet, it must be worth a try - because you never know where it could lead you.