Facebook has long been the go-to place for everyone from college students to divorced women looking for love. Users in the United States can now use Facebook as a dating service, replete with specific profiles, a pairing algorithm, and other features. Users ages 18 and older can use a package of services designed to help them establish a lasting relationship on Facebook Dating, which began rolling out in other countries last year and is now available in the United States. Many of them will be familiar to anyone who has used other dating apps, but a few of them take advantage of Facebook’s most valuable asset: its vast database of information on you and your connections.
Facebook Dating is integrated inside the regular Facebook app, although it requires a separate profile to utilize. Your name and age are the only pieces of information that get passed over. Based on your location, expressed tastes, and other variables, the service will present you with suitable matches. You can also select to be matched with people who attend similar Facebook events or belong to similar Facebook groups. It won’t display you your existing Facebook friends because that option is disabled by default.
Facebook is also utilizing the introduction of Dating in the United States to introduce a number of new privacy and security measures to the site. And, of course, there’s the Instagram integration. This isn’t surprising given the company’s efforts to bring its platforms closer together in various ways throughout the year.
“People are forced to make a judgment based on this one profile that never updates and is incredibly curated” on most dating applications, according to Charmaine Hung, a Facebook Dating product manager. The social media platform aspires to provide a more dynamic and genuine experience. Users will be able to display their permanent Instagram posts in their Dating profiles starting today. Facebook claims you’ll be able to share Instagram or Facebook Stories by the end of the year. They won’t be Dating-specific Stories, but rather the same ones you’ve already shared with your friends or followers, and they’ll be gone in 24 hours. Tinder stated in April that it would begin integrating Snapchat Stories, so the social network isn’t the first to think of it.
Instagram will also be integrated into Facebook’s existing Secret Crush function, which allows users to choose up to nine Facebook friends with whom they want to express an interest—as long as the other person confirms they have a crush on them. Your Instagram followers may now also be Secret Crushes—sorry, no celebrities or influencers until they follow you! You’ll get a notification if someone adds you to their Secret Crush list. If you choose the same person for your list, Facebook will pair you up and reveal your identities. Nothing happens if the feelings are one-sided.
Safety Features That Are Unique
Hinge and other dating apps have long advertised their capacity to connect you with friends of friends—people with whom you already have social ties. You can also do the opposite with Facebook Dating: you may turn off matching with friends of friends in advance, which may be a useful feature for someone looking to date outside their network. The functionality might also be useful for LGTBQ+ people who aren’t out in their communities. Even if you want them to have access to your Facebook or Instagram accounts, you can restrict people from seeing your Facebook Dating profile.
The most intriguing new aspect of Facebook Dating is that it builds on a well-established safety strategy for online dating. Many people, especially women, tell a friend or family member where they’re going and when they anticipate to return before seeing someone in person for the first time. People have begun sharing their whereabouts more recently utilizing apps like Apple’s Find My Friends. You’ll be able to open Messenger from Dating and tell a friend the name of the person you’re going on a date with, as well as the time and location where you plan to hang out. That person will receive a notification reminder and access to your live location fifteen minutes before your date. However, unlike Find My Friends, your location is only shared for an hour at a time, at least for the time being.