Facebook Dating, which first launched in Thailand and Canada last November, is now open for business, all ye lonely hearts in the Lion City.
The company announced the expansion of its dating feature at its (mostly) annual F8 developers conference yesterday, which saw the launch of Facebook Dating in 14 additional countries, including Singapore. Within the Coconuts network, this list also includes Malaysia and the Philippines, and within Asia, also Vietnam and Laos.
This is the largest international launch of the service to date — before yesterday, it had only been available in five countries: Thailand, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Argentina.
Charmaine Hung, Technical Program Manager for Facebook Dating, said in a press briefing that there are more than 200 million people on Facebook who have listed themselves as “single” in the relationship status field of their profiles — and that that figure prompted Facebook to see Dating as an opportunity to further the company’s original goal of connecting people and building new relationships.
According to Hung, the Facebook Dating feature aims to distance itself from the hookup culture that other dating platforms have become known for — wink, wink, swipe, swipe — and was thus designed to give users the chance to build “meaningful romantic relationships.”
Anyway, here’s how it works:
Facebook users who are 18 years old and older can create a dating profile that will be separate from their Facebook accounts. Family, friends, and people who have been blocked from a person’s Facebook profile won’t be able to see a user’s Dating profile. This Dating profile is an opt-in feature that users have to activate separately.
Then, according to posts that you make on your Dating profile — say, a snap of your homemade brownies, or a selfie of you and your dog hiking together — the feature will send you suggested matches that are based on shared interests. You can also set dating preferences — such as gender, height, religion, education level, whether or not you want children, etc. — and join groups or events so that you can improve your chances of finding like-minded matches.
Facebook Dating users will only be recommended to profiles they’re not friends with, or to the friends of friends. Those who don’t want to be recommended to mutual friends can also remove that option in their settings.
Users can either choose to “pass” on a recommendation or say that they’re “interested” by tapping a button on the bottom of the screen. This tapping function was intentional, explains Hung, so that users will be encouraged to delve a little deeper into each match’s profile, rather than dismissing him or her with a quick swipe of the finger.
If you’re interested in another user, then you can only write one message to that person by way of initiating conversation. If that person replies, then it’s considered a match and the two of you can continue messaging each other. If that person doesn’t respond, then next — kindly move on. No second chances here.
According to Hung, this is a measure to prevent harassment. Furthermore, only text-based messages are allowed — no creepy photos or videos, no links, no online payments. Links and online payments are banned as a safety measure against potential scammers.
In case a user does feel harassed, he or she can report that harassment to Facebook, block the offending party, or both. Hung also tells us that there’s a “one strike and you’re out” policy in regard to harassment — once you’re reported for violation, you’ll lose access to the feature altogether.
Hung also says that the Facebook Dating team is working on a live location sharing feature which will allow users to share date plans with friends and family.
There is also a Second Look function, which allows users to reconsider someone they were initially not interested in, and a feature called Secret Crush, which lets users match with their Facebook friends.
With the Secret Crush feature, users can add up to nine Facebook friends they fancy. There is no reveal for who adds whom as a “crush” — users will only be notified that they have been added as a Secret Crush, and the identities of either side will only be revealed if both parties have added each other’s names within his or her own Secret Crush list, too.
There you have it, folks. Dating for the digital age is now Facebook official, and if this new feature finds success, it’ll only be a matter of time until your divorced Uncle David gets his Secret Crush on, too.
