By Alfred Hermida BBC News Online technology staff

The website that has become a national obsession in the UK is aiming to take on the world.

The people behind Friends Reunited, which puts schoolmates back in touch with each other, are planning similar websites across Europe and in South Africa.

"Hopefully, it will grow in the same way as it's grown in the UK," said Friends Reunited founder Steve Pankhurst.

"There are a lot of copycat sites out there already abroad, but it is all about getting to the critical mass first, which we did in the UK," he told the BBC programme Go Digital.

'Everyone's a customer'

Over the past year, Friends Reunited has become one of the most visited websites in the UK, with 6.2 million registered members.

A mix of word of mouth and media attention has propelled this site to phenomenon status with 200 million page views in April.

Friends Reunited facts

Database of 45,500 schools and universities Registration is free Visitors can read messages left by former friends �5 annual charge to contact people via the site

"If you had spoken to me a couple of years ago I would never have believed that Friends Reunited would be as big as it is," said Mr Pankhurst.

"But when you think about it, it targets everybody, which is one of the keys to its successes. Everybody went to school, so potentially everyone is a customer."

"The site is very successful and very profitable," said Mr Pankhurst, though he denies it has made him into a millionaire.

Friends Reunited was the brainchild of Steve Pankhurst and his wife Julie, who set it up when Julie decided she wanted to track down some of her old school friends.

Between 20 and 30 people visited the site when it was first set up 18 months ago in the bedroom of a house in North London. A year ago the number of visitors jumped from 20,000 hits a day to three million.

Dotcom success

In the US, a similar site called Classmates.com proved immensely popular but not many people believed such a service could succeed in the UK.

"I didn't think it was going to be a goer as I thought people in Britain would be a bit more reserved about reunions," said Mr Pankhurst.

"What I didn't gauge is the nosiness the site allows.

Everybody is nosy and curious to find out what friends are doing now

Steve Pankhurst, Friends Reunited

"Everybody is nosy and curious to find out what friends are doing now."

Friends Reunited is a rare dot.com success story. Many sites set up in the euphoria of the dot.com boom have since collapsed.

"There's going to be a lot more falling by the wayside," predicted Mr Pankhurst.

"What was going on a couple of years ago was madness because people had very poor ideas. The actual money that was pumped into these sites was outrageous.

As well as doing franchise deals to set up Friends Reunited sites in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Holland and South Africa, Mr Pankhurst and his wife are extending their idea into other areas such as the workplace and the armed forces.

"We're also doing a site for the World Cup called Svens Reunited," said Mr Pankhurst.

"There's been lots of spoofs of our site so we thought we'd do our own one and turn it into a bit of a game as well that is going to be running during the course of the World Cup."