With all the issues that Facebook is facing now, from privacy concerns to being called to testify in Congress, it seems that they are getting their priorities straight by focusing on people’s dating lives. (We’re being sarcastic in case you didn’t get it.) At the ongoing F8 developers’ conference, one of the major announcements that CEO Mark Zuckerberg made is that they’re jumping into the dating app pool to help the 200 million people who marked themselves as single find “real, long-term relationships”.
Facebook Dating was already being tested on a small subset of users earlier this year. They sent notifications to some users that “_______ may want to meet up with you this week” and if you said yes, then they’ll send another notification saying “Want to meet up with ____ this week?”. Both users have to say yes of course and then Facebook will send you further notifications. Zuckerberg is quick to emphasize that this is intended to build relationships and “not just hookups”.
But of course they’d want to make it simpler eventually and just like some of the dating apps in the market. You’ll be able to see pictures and a few details about the person and then you’ll tap “interested” if you are, or just pass which we assume is a swipe motion. You’ll also see events that the user might be attending if in case you want to meet up there. Hopefully they have anti-stalking features built in or things can get messy.
Your dating profile will be separate from your Facebook profile and you’ll be able to access the Dating section from within your Facebook app. And in case you’re worried, your friends won’t see your dating activity. They did not give a timeline for when this feature will go live. Are you excited about it or do you think Facebook should just focus on other pressing issues other than playing cupid?
VIA: SlashGear
