SMS and email, the choice for Valentines

More than 6.8 million SMS messages and 18.5 million emails were exchanged this Valentine's Day, according to Telstra. This is an increase from the 6.3 million SMS and 13 million emails messages sent last year.

According to Jenny Young, head of consumer marketing at Telstra, Valentine's Day was ranked third for SMS traffic behind Christmas and New Year.

"While traditionalists keep florists, jewellery stores and newsagents run off their feet, an increasing number or romantics are embracing email, SMS, picture messaging and now i-mode to win the affection of their Valentine," said Young.

Online dating services also proved popular over Valentine's Day, according to Telstra BigPond.

"Hitwise data shows that Australian visits to online dating websites have increased by approximately 22 percent over the past year,” said Young.

Valentine's Day demand proved too much however for US based Hallmark.com’s free ecard service. Users were greeted with an apology message as the system struggled with requests for well in excess of the expected 900,000 ecards.