Facebook entered the Dating Business in the United States. Since Thursday, users over the age of 18 can create a separate dating profile there. Facebook then suggests potential flirting partners based on its knowledge of user interests and activities.
The group had already announced the function in May 2018. It was first introduced in Colombia last year, and later in Canada and Thailand. In Colombia, however, the service had teething problems, as SPIEGEL found out in a test. The application is now available in 20 countries in South America and Asia. The launch in Europe is scheduled for early next year.
Interested parties can create a separate dating profile for their partner search, which is not visible to their own Facebook friends - unless they are identified as a "secret swarm" in the dating profile. The users only learn about this when there is a mutual agreement.
In order to make the flirting function secure, no photos, web links, videos or payments can be sent between the dating profiles, emphasized Facebook. Everyone can block or report another user. There is the possibility to integrate content from the company's own photo platform Instagram.
Only if both want
"With Facebook Dating you can get together with friends of friends or with people who are not in your circle of friends," said the responsible manager Nathan Sharp. Users can contact each other via the "secretly crushed" feature. This only works if both sides want it, stressed Sharp.
"Finding a lover is very personal - that's why we've made a secret crush," said Sharp. Security and privacy are the most important things about the new product.
Facebook users can already specify a relationship status with their profiles. While romantically inclined users of the dating app Tinder their profile even with the comment "No ONS!" - So: "No one-night-stands!" - must be provided, it is in Facebook Dating in principle "to build real, long-term relationships, not to fast adventure," announced CEO Mark Zuckerberg last year.
With the function, the company rivals the App Tinder: Following the announcement of the US launch of Facebook Dating, the share of the partner-search company Match Group, which includes Tinder, temporarily lost around five percent.