New Year can be a desperately sad time for people missing loved ones.
But, since the early days of the internet - long before the Facebook revolution - a website launched by TMS Media internet director Mike Murr has been responsible for thousands of happy reunions.
Mike admitted that the inspiration for his pioneering venture, www.missing-you.net, came partly from a desire to trace the best man at his wedding.
"I decided the internet was going to be the next big thing, and this was one of three projects I did to get myself going. It was quite ground-breaking because people could post directly on to the site with their messages. Within two weeks I had received quite a lot of replies - and found my best man."
Nowadays, there are more than 40,000 messages on the site, with new ones being posted every 10 or 15 minutes. While the person being sought must live in the UK, messages come from all corners of the world.
The website is a time-consuming labour of love - it is free to use - but heart-warming success stories people had posted were the motivation to keep it going.
As the website maintains its popularity into a second decade, voluntary donations are to be suggested to meet the running costs.
Mike - who confesses to having lost contact with his best man again - said half of any proceeds would go to the housing and homelessness charity, Shelter.
"For people who have lost touch with their family and don't know how to get back in touch, it can be easy to fall down the slippery slope to homelessness."
