By Who would you entrust with the deeply private task of finding true love? If the answer is "the company which allowed the data of 87 million of its users to be harvested", we've got some excellent news for you.
As uncovered by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, employees at Facebook have been testing a dating feature which the social network initially announced at the F8 conference back in May.
“This product is for US Facebook employees who have opted-in to dogfooding Facebook’s new dating product,” a screenshot reads. “The purpose for this dogfooding is to test the end-to-end product experience for bugs and confusing UI. This is not meant for dating your coworkers.”
'Dogfooding' is the practise of testing a service before it is made available to customers.
While the feature is not a standalone app, it has adopted some of the features on Tinder to imitate their success in the online dating game. Wong explains that: "They also have this thing called "community" specifically where users can view their mutual communities. This might be Facebook's take on "Groups" on Tinder Social."
"Feeling anxious or not knowing what the pickup line to break the ice?" she writes, "Facebook got you, as they are working on something called "Conversation Starter"
In term of using the app, TechCrunch explain that, "Once you opt in to activating Facebook Dating, only other people who have also turned it on will be able to see you, and it won’t be shared to News Feed. You can choose if friends of friends can see you or not, and Dating profiles allow non-binary and transgender and orientation options. You’ll unlock Groups or Events you’re a part of for Dating, and you’ll be able to browse potential matches based on the plethora of info Facebook knows about you. If two people express interest in each other (no swiping), they can text each other over Messenger or WhatsApp."
They add that Facebook has revealed to them that they are, "considering a limit on how many people you can express interest in, which would prevent a spammy behaviour of rapidly approving everyone you see. Blocking someone on Dating won’t also block them on Facebook, though that’s not finalised."
So you'll be made aware the person you spoke to for 12 minutes at your cousin's wedding definitely isn't interested in you, but still have to keep them as a Friend out of politeness. A feature which will surely have people flocking back to Facebook.
