Through its new dating service, Facebook seeks to create long-lasting and significant relationships among users while exploiting a considerable market opportunity, since 200 million users of this social media have labeled themselves as “single.” This modality will now be available in Mexico , according to an official announcement.
“Dating apps are basically limited to swiping left or right, becoming more of a game for most. Furthermore, communication is often restricted; whenever a person does not ‘match’ with another, he or she is unable to communicate with them. We want to provide an experience that is more similar to real life. When you’re at a bar, you don’t wait for the other person to ‘match’ you, you just come up and say hi. Whether the person wants to continue the conversation or decide that he or she is not interested is up to them,” stated Charmaine Hung, product manager for Facebook Dating .
Facebook Dating is planned as a feature within Facebook’s main app. Each user will be able to create their own dating profile with the pictures and information they choose. The social network will only import the person’s first name and location. Facebook will recommend profiles for dating based on the user’s interests.
“We use their first name and location to avoid catfishing. The rest of the user’s private information will not be displayed on Dating, since we know many users do not want to show their full profile until they have reached a certain level of trust. Likewise, users may choose to view either users with common friends or complete strangers,” Hung added.
If there is a match, the user will be able to text the other person and start a conversation. The chat window can be found within the Dating interface, which is separate from Facebook Messenger.
“The Dating chat is for text only, it is configured to allow people to start a conversation and reach a certain level of trust before moving on to other communication alternatives. This is why the Dating chat does not allow users to send audio or video files, links to other websites, or photographs. We do not want anyone to feel uncomfortable or receive unsolicited pictures or videos, we want the experience to feel natural, safe, and constructive.”
Although this feature is meant for people who are single, nothing stops people in other relationship statuses from creating their profile. The app will be fully private and the user’s friends and family will not be notified of the subscription.
“Facebook Dating is meant for people who are over the age of 18 and minors will be banned from accessing the platform. People who are in a relationship may open a Dating profile if they wish to, however, we trust that the platform’s design will provide a space where people can develop long term relationships and this is what we will be aiming for,” concluded Charmaine Hung .
Facebook announced the product at their F8 developer conference in May 2018. The feature was in internal beta testing within several months.
As of today, Facebook Dating will be available in Argentina and Mexico . Users will be able to start using the platform by updating their Facebook.
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