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Facebook Dating launches because nothing matters

Xeni Jardin

It’s difficult to imagine a company less qualified to keep your “secret crush” list secret.

Facebook Dating just launched in the U.S. as an opt-in feature that is integrated with Facebook-owned Instagram. It’s only for 18-and-over users and requires a separate profile.

Matches between users who opt in to Facebook Dating will be suggested by the algorithm based on users’ preferences, interests, and activity within Facebook and Instagram.

“Barely more than a month has passed since the U.S. Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook a record $5 billion over its privacy lapses, and imposed a modified corporate structure to hold the company more accountable for its decisions over user privacy,” writes Sarah Perez at TechCrunch.

In the wake of this historic action, Facebook’s brand-new dating product is today launching to all in the U.S., promising to leverage the company’s deep insight into people’s personal data to deliver better matches than rival dating apps like Tinder, Bumble, Match and others.

With its U.S. arrival, Facebook Dating will now also allow users to integrate their Instagram posts in their dating profile and add their Instagram followers to their “Secret Crush” list, in addition to Facebook friends.

By year-end, Facebook Dating users will be able to select which Facebook or Instagram Stories they want to add to their dating profile.

As others have noted on Facebook, apart from all the bonkers implications of getting more intimate with Facebook, what’s newsworthy about this announcement is the new ability for users to combine their Facebook and Instagram files in Facebook Dating. That’s the first time Facebook has munged the two platforms so closely together in pursuit of a product goal.

Remember, before you use this thing? It’s owned by Facebook. If you use it, so’s your most intimate imaginable personal data.

[via Techmeme]

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