Facebook is invading Tinder’s space with a new set of dating features. It will let people opt in to creating a dating profile on Facebook. It will only be visible to non-friends who also opted into dating. Facebook will match you by a slew of preferences. And since it has more data on you than any other app, it could deliver more relevant matches. The feature will start testing later this year.
Facebook explains that “potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends. They’ll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events.” TechCrunch suggested that Facebook build a feature like this in February.
Here’s how Facebook dating will work.
- Opt in to a create a profile with just your first name. Your profile won’t be visible to friends, users who aren’t on the dating feature, and it won’t show up in the News Feed.
- You’ll browse Events in your city and Groups that match your interests. You can select to ‘unlock’ one for dating. You’ll then see the profiles of other dating users who’ve unlocked that surface.
- You can browse through people’s profiles that show off a few of their photos plus some basic information about them. You’ll be shown people based on mutual interests and friends, plus other data Facebook has on you.
- If you both are interested, you’ll be able to start a conversation with someone in a special inbox that’s separate from Messenger and WhatsApp.
We explored how this could work in a feature piece earlier this year:
