British lovers seduced by tweets In a survey of 2,500 16-45 year olds, tweeting topped the table ahead of texting as the number one method of seduction for the nation's sweethearts, while the old fashioned phone call was relegated to third place. The research also revealed that, in the space of a single generation, the average time for relationships to blossom has more than halved. When questioned, couples aged 55 and over said that on average their courting process took more than two and a half months (78 days) whereas for those under the age of 25 it takes just under one month (24 days) for them to refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend. It signals the end of the traditional "three day rule" of waiting 72 hours before calling a date back. It's now closer to three hours with two thirds (68 per cent) happy to contact their prospective partner within 4 hours of their first date. "With the nation obsessed with constantly communicating with one another, modern technology is putting the speed into speed dating and encouraging more contact between budding lovers," said Ghadi Hobeika, Marketing Director of electronics retailer PIXmania.co.uk, which conducted tthe research. From flirting on Facebook to teasing on Twitter modern day lovers are increasingly embracing technology to help snare their catch. Surprisingly, men are more prolific on social networks than women in their pursuit of a partner and send an average of 517 Facebook messages and Tweets a year in an attempt to woo potential lovers compared to just 386 for women. More than a third (34 per cent) of couples admitted to sexting each other with raunchy pictures and over half (52%) of those questioned said they feel less inhibited when using technology to chat up a date. Technology also plays a role in the breakup of 21st century relationships; a phone call is now the preferred method of digital dumping with 36 per cent breaking it off with a call while 27 per cent of those questioned confessed to ending it with a text and 13 per cent revealed they had called it a day using social media.