In a surprising move following all the Cambridge Analytica drama, the chief executive of social networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has announced a dating service to help its users find their significant others.
And before you’re convinced this is going to end up emulating Tinder, the Facebook chief clarified that it is “not just for hook-ups” but “meaningful, long-term relationships.” Hmm, thoughts anyone?
Zuckerberg added that there are 200 million users on Facebook who list themselves as single, and that the dating feature will be optional. A prototype also showed a heart shape displayed at the top-right corner of the Facebook app.
Users will have to set up a dating profile which won’t be visible to friends unless they too are using the service. Browse through events or groups based on location and interest, then unlock the profiles of others who also show interest in said events.
A private messaging feature will also be made available for these matches to chat and Zuckerberg himself has affirmed that the dating service will be built with prioritised privacy in mind.
Seeing that there are over 2.2 billion active Facebook users worldwide, the pool of your prospective dates will evidently be much broader! Will Zuckerberg’s new dating app put its competitors out of business? Hmmm..
