AceShowbiz - British pop star Mika is a big fan of online dating - because the internet allows him to approach suitors he would never have the courage to ask out in person. The "Grace Kelly" hitmaker admits the first virtual date he organized via MySpace.com five years ago was a disaster - but it hasn't kept him from logging on to look for love.

In a column for La Repubblica, Mika writes, "MySpace, the Facebook of yesterday. Where our pictures were always better than the reality and our words typed always more entertaining than the ones spoken. Since then internet dating has become so much the norm... Isn't that the best thing about the internet? You can approach someone that you would never be brave enough to, or even have time to in real life."

And the singer reveals he even uses his computer to research people he meets in the real world. He adds, "Let's face it, anyone with an internet connection does it in some way. Even if you meet someone for the first time in the flesh, if you're interested you go online and see what you can dig up. We find ourselves piecing together their life, from holiday snaps with drunk friends, to whether they have children or if the pictures of them alone seem too egocentric or staged. At the end of all the online digging you might as well had met online. Perhaps there really isn't a difference any more."