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Everything We Know About Facebook’s New Dating App

As if Facebook isn’t enough of an internet juggernaut already, the company announced earlier this year that they are launching a dating app. Welcome, Facebook Dating. Did we need this? …Probably not. There’s already more dating apps than we know what to do with. But hey, Facebook knows more about us than we even know about ourselves, so maybe they’d be a lot better at vetting out the weirdos and ghosters.

Facebook launched initial testing of the app in Columbia last Thursday, with users only able to curate their profiles so far. Once they they have enough signups, they will start matching away. It seems that Facebook Dating being available to the general public is still quite a while off, but here’s everything we know about it so far.

Seperate Profile, Not Seperate App

Obviously, one of the worries of Facebook Dating is the possibility of all your Facebook friends being privy to your cringe-worthy attempts to attract a mate. Semi-anonymity is amongst some of other dating apps’ greatest merits. Not to worry though, Facebook Dating allows you to create a seperate profile, without downloading a whole other system. The messaging will also take place on another tab within the Messenger app. The only thing that gets carried over is your name and your age. You, yourself, have to fill in a short introduction. You also answer 20 compulsory questions, to optimise matches based on similar interests and values.

Focus on Long-Term Relationships

As your Facebook page has been storing information on your likes, dislikes, the events you frequent and the videos you share since you signed up for it at the ripe age of 13, they have more than enough data to match you up with legitimate partners. Facebook Dating have announced that they have a primarily marketing for long-term, serious relationships.

Swiper No Swiping

Long gone are the days where your thumb is on the brink of falling off from incessantly swiping left! The Facebook Dating layout will not include a swipe left/right feature. They claim that this is to combat the fast, easy nature of dismissing people purely based on looks, à la Tinder, and encourages people to look closer into each profile. You will also not be permitted to simply send ‘hey’ or a noncommittal string of emojis. The first interaction needs to respond directly to one of the match’s photos or questions. The radius for potential matches is also limited to 100 kilometres.

Events

A prime leg-up that Facebook Dating has is the fact that people pretty much use Facebook as their entire social calendar. So that means you now have the ability to match with people that have attended the same events and parties as you. And you can scroll hella back if you so choose. Want to scroll all the way back to that Trivia Night you attended last year where you met someone but forgot to ask for their number? As long as they’ve agreed to be discovered, it’s aaaaaall fair game.

One Thing…

Facebook Dating has one strange flaw. It won’t match you with people that you’re already friends with. This is obviously to remove awkward situations where you might be matched with your friend’s little brother. Or worse…an ex. But it seems to be a strange move. Want to add the cute person from your tute that you’re interested in? Go for it, but you’re completely eradicating your chances of being matched.

In saying all that, will the app be a success? Who’s to say. In a world where it’s becoming increasingly harder to meet someone organically, yet another app surely can’t do any harm. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m going back and un-liking all the embarrassing pages I had followed as a teen… can’t be too careful.

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