Have you ever wondered how to ask someone out on a date or where to go for immediate tips on dancing? How about finding out how to harvest a radish? Burning questions for the modern man – or woman – I’m sure you will agree, now answered via instructive videos on the website videojug.com.

Launched in the US on Monday, one of the biggest video hits from the intrisically British website (name me another nation that would want to know how to play beggar my neighbour?) is a video instructing on how to give a man hug. At once affirming the surge in popularity of the male embrace and the irony that most men don’t have a clue what to do when faced with the open arms of a member of thier own sex, getting involved in a man on man clinch is evidently fraught with many potentially embarrassing pitfalls.

Should I hug or should I shake the hand? To pat or not to pat on the back? If my male friend is considerably taller will I end up nuzzled into his chest and risk suffocation? Where do I place my arms – around his neck? Too childish. Around his waist? Too romantic. At an angle? It seems I have no other option.

In terms of rules only two are clearly defined. Rule number one: if conducting any sporting activity, hugging between males is condoned, eg. David Beckham hugs Michael Owen after passing ball across penalty box to score goal in corner of net. Success marked by energised hug in front of simultaneously hugging fans.

Rule number two: if conducting any political or business activity hugging must be used extremely selectively, e.g. Boris Yeltzin and Jiang Zemin’s 1997 bear-hug, the former no doubt having consumed enough Stolichnaya vodka to inebriate Zemin with one breath. All attempts at gravitas and international respect squandered with one over-eager move.

For women of course, it is an entirely different story. While they happily embrace each other, kiss merrily on each cheek and swap life stories within the first few seconds of meeting each other, contact between men is a much more hazy area. My boyfriend hugs only one of his male friends - the rest he greets with a handshake. So what sets this one friend apart? Is a hug between these two men a signifier of a stronger emotional bond or has one initiated and the other followed suit for fear of looking stupid / homophobic / ill at ease with his emotional side? All of the above I should think, but the reciprocal gesture of assurance and very tenable admission of each other’s mutual comfort is what underlies their hug. That the friend is a rugby player helps; I am sure both are comforted by the knowledge that a man who weighs sixteen stone and throws other men to the ground for a living can mean nothing more than friendship.

Whether you choose to hug another man or not (and I suggest the recipient is someone you know; hugging strangers was never an advisable course of action), knowing what to do when it does happen is invaluable. Running in the opposite direction when a male friend heads for your torso, arms outstretched isn’t the most obvious external display of your open-mindedness, nor the value of your friendship. Yet holding onto your hugging companion for more than a few of seconds, rubbing his back tenderly and spending the following ten minutes throwing some mock punches moves swiftly into David Brent territory and may be a step too far in terms of honest affection. Follow the do’s and don’ts and the memorable advice from the hugging males in this video and emotional openness will be yours for the taking – or hugging.

See world leaders demonstrating the art of the man to man hug

Watch the Videojug how-to guide

Do

Avoid the groin area during hugs

Hug to celebrate a sporting victory/birth/engagement/marriage – what better time to share the love?

Hug your dad – family is a safe bet

Avoid eye contact, this is a hug not a romantic embrace

But look where the other person is heading – head butts hurt

Don’t

Slap more than four times on the back for fear of inducing a coughing fit

Hug at work

Hug your father-in-law unless he hugs you first

Look at a hug-making attempt with contempt – are you a man at ease with his sexuality or not?

Hug for more than a couple of seconds, there’s a fine line between a man hug and man hunt