Are we still mad about the Cambridge Analytica scandal? Yes. Is Facebook ready to turn our attention elsewhere? Also yes. And yesterday at F8, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is entering brand new territory: dating services.
Facebook has long been part of the dating lexicon — how many times have we heard “is it Facebook official?” — but Facebook has been slow to dive into a more formal dating app territory like those currently dominated by services like Tinder. Until now.
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The new Facebook service will simply be called “Facebook Dating” and will be integrated into the current Facebook app, no new download required. You can create a separate profile from your main account to put a curated face forward for potential romantic interests, and just your first name will appear on the dating profile, allowing you added privacy.
Your profiles won’t interact with each other — so your friends won’t have to see what your emojis look like when you’re wooing someone and your dates won’t need to see you post yet another adorable photo of your pet.
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Facebook won’t include your current friends as potential matches in their algorithm, and the dating section has its own messenger area that disables photos and links — so no unsolicited dick pics allowed.
But that doesn’t mean Facebook forces you to keep all your information separate. You can, for example, choose to share your upcoming events so potential matches who are also going can see you’ll be there.
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For the most part, if you’re already dabbling in relationship apps, you’ll feel right at home with Facebook Dating — it’s largely modeled after Tinder and Bumble, which have long used Facebook to power their profile resources anyway.
You’ll have to wait a while to see if Facebook will help you find your soul mate, though. The functionality isn’t set to release until later this year.
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