Flitter parties have become another form of meeting potential love interests. (Canadian Press)

More dating websites are integrating the use of Twitter to boost clients' chances of finding Mr. or Ms. Right in an era where social networking is increasingly omnipresent.

Flirt140 aims to help Twitter users find dates, with capabilities to search by gender, location and keyword to seek out others that live nearby, as well as to send private messages.

Meanwhile, 140Love allows users to fill out a profile about themselves as well as what they're seeking in a prospective match — each limited to 140 characters or less. They are then matched with those most closely matching the qualities they're looking for.

And, just in time for Valentine's Day on Sunday, there's Flitter, a singles event in Toronto on Saturday that will tap into both Twitter and smartphone technology.

Organized by speed-dating service FastLife, Flitter will allow singles to fire off a tweet on their BlackBerry or iPhone to someone who might be catching their eye.

Attendees will be invited to create a Twitter account if they don't yet have one and each will wear a number tag. If they see someone they like, they can take note of their number and send a tweet or "flit." (Elsewhere in cyberspace, Twitter flirting has also been referred to as "twirting.")

However, messages aren't sent privately from one phone to another, but rather projected on a screen so that partygoers can follow along.

FastLife founder and CEO Justin Parfitt said they typically have a match game of some kind when they host large parties to help break the ice and get people mingling. He envisions the use of Flitter working in a similar fashion.

"[People] can just be a little bit voyeuristic if they want to. They can see what the response to their flit [is] or they can just watch other people do it," he said. "But the thing is it's like the old valentine thing: do you want to be anonymous or do you want to go out and wear your heart on your sleeve? You've got the choice."

Parfitt said they decided to bring Flitter to Toronto after a successful trial run in Sydney, Australia, just before Christmas.

"I think what's great about this technology is initially it is quite separating and it's isolating, and everyone lives in these virtual bubbles, but now finally people are beginning to realize that it is possible to use the technology in a way that's social."

Plans to expand Flitter

Parfitt said FastLife, which is also hosting Valentine's parties in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver, plans to expand Flitter across North America.

"With the huge kind of popularity of social media obviously we're going to be looking at new ways to leverage that technology and get people to meet in person and use that technology in a social way — in a real social way, not virtually social."

Calgary dating coach Karen Howells said her clients are more focused on exchanging emails and texts, and said probably about five per cent use Twitter or Facebook. But she has some concerns.

For some. there is a feeling of vulnerability around using social media, said Howells. They might not necessarily want the whole world knowing who they like until it actually becomes a relationship that's public.

However, she does see social networking becoming a more widely used tool over time and finds those who are younger are more keen to use Twitter or Facebook for dating.

"With the under-30 generation they have so much information available to them because everybody is posting information on Facebook, twittering," she said. "They virtually can go online, find out who does what, when.

"It's definitely coming on to being a popular way to go about it," she added.