Facebook was always about friends. But now it’s also about love. The social media giants have launched Facebook Dating in the U.S., their answer to Tinder, Coffee Meets Bagel, Bumble and other dating apps. The new feature brings together Facebook’s networking infrastructure and data to help find matches that suit you.
For company that knows you as intimately as Facebook does, it makes total sense that a dating service launched. But with all its controversies, including an ongoing antitrust investigation, do we really want Facebook deeper into our lives?
A separate app within your app
Facebook Dating lives within your Facebook app. The extension is made available to users 18 and above, who need to opt-in and activate their Dating profile – kids on Facebook won’t randomly chance upon a new dating app that lets them meet suitors in town.
Once activated, it requests for your gender, who you’re interested in, a bunch of TCs and several privacy settings. You can tweak your dating location, distance from you, age and height preferences. You can even indicate religious preferences and whether you’re okay with your date having children.
It’ll probably be a relief to note that information on Dating is separate from your usual Facebook app. It goes to certain lengths to make them distinct: It makes you create a whole new profile, and all the details you want shown.
It ensures your Facebook friends won’t show up on Dating profile; and you can remove friends of friends from potential matches to avoid awkward encounters.
How’s it different?
Much like Tinder, Facebook Dating lets you scroll through endless cards of individuals looking for dates.
