The Colombians are the first. Even if many of them do not know about it yet. For some weeks now, Facebook has a feature that users in other countries still have to wait for: a dating function.
The hides inconspicuously in the menu of the mobile Facebook app. "Citas" is just there, translated means the "appointments". Next to it is a pink-purple heart. Facebook dating has been around since September in Colombia - recently the feature was also released in Canada and Thailand.
The offensive on the dating market had announced Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the spring of 2018 at the developer conference F8: "On Facebook are 200 million users who claim to be single," Zuckerberg said there. "There is clearly something to do here."
"Hide" instead of wiping
As the developers have interpreted Zuckerberg's statement, as shown in a test in the Colombian capital Bogotá: Quickly appear here many proposals for a flirt on the phone screen. An attractive 25-year-old with an undercut, for example, or a young hip-hopper with a baseball cap. But there are also bad night shots, on which at best outlines can be seen. The candidates can not be swiped back and forth as in Tinder, but it is clicked - on "Interested me" or "hide".
Some of the candidates live more than an hour's drive away. The application searches within a 100-kilometer radius - users can enable their Facebook Dating location services to automatically update their whereabouts. Or you can enter and check the location manually each time.
Potential couples find themselves not only in proximity but also in their interests: Facebook dating recommends conferences or music festivals based on interests or likes. You can also search for dates at a specific event or view users who are interested in a specific event.
photo gallery
10 pictures
App feature: This is Facebook datingFacebook assures that the dating profile is isolated from the normal Facebook profile. First name and age, however, are automatically taken over. You should upload a profile photo - "your best photo" - and accept anonymous photos, such as a flower.
"Long-term relationships" instead of sexting
Users have to indicate which gender they are looking for and which gender they identify with: male, female, transgender, transgender or "non-binary". Preferences can further narrow the search for a partner, such as age or height. A questionnaire should facilitate the search for a match - with questions like "What does a perfect day look like for you?"
At each step, Facebook explains how the data is used and whether it is visible to others. That's correct, but pretty top-heavy. "We thought from the beginning to privacy and security," said Mark Zuckerberg at the product presentation. And: The service is for "long-term relationships - not just for hook-ups ('elevations')" thought.
Probably that's why barriers for wild chats are built in: penis photos or nude pictures may not be sent - only text messages are allowed. When testing with an Android phone, we were also unable to take screenshots from the user interface of Facebook Dating or dialogues.
And there are a lot of security tips: "Check if your phone is charged", "Organize your own transport to date", "Tell someone about your plans". And: "Make sure your drink stays in your field of vision." Some tips may be useful, others might come from your own mother - you do not feel like a casual flirting.
After a week of test flirting on Facebook, the record is perhaps also devastating. Feedback: none.
Fredy, a digital expert from Bogotá, also believes that look and ease of use need to improve. "It does not look very attractive to me, and at first I was confused by the structure of the app," says the 27-year-old, who spent two months experimenting with the new dating feature. "I wanted to know how it works, but it was not exciting, with the majority of people having nothing to do but chats," he says. There are simply too few users.
He was also annoyed by the flood of notifications: "Every time you have a new message, you will be notified, which I found extremely invasive, because the notifications of Facebook Dating and other Facebook messages mix."
Option flirt break
Daniela, 25, from Medellín, meanwhile finds that Facebook dating is "a disaster": "It's not a useful app," she says. Navigation, design and features need to be redesigned to make Facebook's service a real competitor to apps like Tinder.
In the new version for Canada and Thailand, Facebook dating "Techcrunch" advertises after all, with some innovations to users: Date suggestions are saved, so you have more time to think. A blocklist should filter out unwanted people, and you can insert a flirt break in between, instead of immediately deleting your profile.
To date, Facebook has not published user numbers for any of the test markets. The group is late, the online dating competition is great with Tinder, OkCupid or Bumble. In addition, it remains to be seen whether Facebook's users still trust the company - especially after the scandal surrounding the analytics company Cambridge Analytica or the recent hacker attack on the social network, which has captured data from millions of users worldwide.