Facebook Dating, though separate from a user's main profile, is integrated with Facebook and designed to encourage the use of its properties that harvest info

This morning, Facebook finally launched its long-awaited (or, just as likely, long-dreaded) dating feature.

New York Magazine 2019-09-06 Brian Feldman

Context & Ripple Effects

Facebook's dating push has been a year in the open: it announced the feature at F8 in May 2018 as a matches-and-separate-profile product, then spent the summer running internal tests whose signup screenshots confirmed that design before a single external user saw it.

Today the product is live for US users 18 and over as an opt-in feature integrated with Instagram. The privacy question New York Magazine raises is structural rather than incidental: even behind a separate profile, the feature sits inside Facebook's app family and rewards engagement with the very properties built on harvested user information.

First-order effects

US users 18+ now face an opt-in choice between a standalone dating profile inside Facebook and dedicated dating apps, while Instagram gains a new funnel pulling daters back toward Facebook-owned surfaces.

Second-order effects

Established dating apps now compete against a rival that charges nothing for matching because its real currency is engagement data across Facebook and Instagram, pressuring them to differentiate on what they do not share with Facebook.

Third-order effects

If the pattern holds, Facebook keeps converting trust-sensitive categories into engagement loops for its ad-data machine — and regulators scrutinizing how one login spans multiple products gain another concrete case study, a scrutiny The Atlantic's later reporting on why Facebook Dating only works if users stay active on Facebook sharpens further.

The trend: Facebook is extending its data-harvesting app family into high-trust verticals like dating, betting integration outweighs the privacy optics of a post-scandal platform.

Discussion

@nymag @nymag on x
The problem with Facebook Dating is that it's made by Facebook, a business whose main objective is to collect personal information and monetize it http://nymag.com/...
@intelligencer @intelligencer on x
Facebook Dating is built on top of and reliant on Facebook's shoddy foundation, not — as Facebook would have you believe — apart from it http://nymag.com/...
@bafeldman Brian Feldman on x
facebook dating is a responsibly developed service that's totally separate from facebook and instagram and it also feeds off of everything you put on facebook and instagram https://nymag.com/...
Vox Rebecca Jennings on x
Facebook has always been about relationships. Now it's in the dating game.
@morninggloria @morninggloria on x
“Facebook Dating” already exists and it's called “being unhappily married for 15 yrs & one day, half in the bag, looking up the guy you went to prom with, striking up a conversation, and 6 months later giving him a blow job in an Applebee's parking lot” https://newsroom.fb.com/..…
@ashleyfeinberg Ashley Feinberg on x
lol i can't think of anything i would trust facebook to not accidentally reveal less https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Facebook is currently hosting a dating show in front of a room of reporters after announcing its dating feature coming to the US. Match Group shares down about 4% https://twitter.com/...
@cwarzel Charlie Warzel on x
facebook has given us exactly zero reasons to trust it with any information over the last few years. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@kurtwagner8 Kurt Wagner on x
FB is launching its dating service in the US today. More interesting IMO: It's letting people basically combine their FB and IG profiles to create a dating profile. That's the most notable blending of the two products that I can recall https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@martinlieberman Martin Lieberman on x
Facebook Dating is now live. Matches will be suggested (to those who opt in) based on their preferences, interests and other things they do on Facebook. http://ow.ly/... Lovely. pic.twitter.com/DJMxTWrZBW
@privacyproject @privacyproject on x
Plenty of legacy dating apps aren't much better with privacy and security. But protecting your romantic secrets is a job that Facebook seems, given its history of data breaches, uniquely unqualified for. https://www.nytimes.com/...
@dz David Zhou on x
“Our popular Secret Crush feature gives you the option to do just that. If you choose to use Secret Crush, you can select up to nine of your Facebook friends or Instagram followers who you're interested in.” oh boy https://newsroom.fb.com/...
@skynews @skynews on x
The company insisted all users' dating activity will stay in Facebook Dating and won't be shared to the rest of the company http://po.st/IlsOXM
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
For those wondering why FB didn't use Instagram (more visual, youthful) as the main entry point for the dating experience vs. the FB app, it's a good question. FB really wants the blue app to be about friends/people connections and wants IG to lean more into brands/celebs.
@hello_tailor Gavia Baker-Whitelaw on x
facebook's new matchmaking service sounds like a dynamite way to increase user engagement by creating as much drama as possible. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
Spoiled 147 days before launch https://newsroom.fb.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@nikkisunstrum Nikki Sunstrum on x
Who better to give you all the personal data and information you need to build a solid relationship than @Facebook? 🤣 https://twitter.com/...
@ashleyrcarman Ashley Carman on x
so i still think fb dating's “secret crush” feature is a total growth hack that makes me feel icky, BUT the company is going to let people pick their crushes from not only their fb friends but ALSO their insta followers. this is actually... game changing?
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
One fascinating thing about the new FB dating feature: it's the first time users have been able to combine their Instagram profile with their Facebook profile. Analysis here by @KurtWagner8 https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@rschooley Schooley on x
Facebook Dating. Also known as “We need a deeper data dive on young persuadables for Brad Perscale.” https://newsroom.fb.com/...
@caseynewton Casey Newton on x
I hope these sexy singles are being compensated with a large amount of Facebook stock https://twitter.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
We are now nearly 30 minutes into Facebook hosting a live dating show in front of a room of beat reporters on a Thursday morning https://twitter.com/...
@tonyromm Tony Romm on x
finally another way for men to reject me https://twitter.com/...
@sairee Sairee Chahal on x
Expect more uncles in your DMs. https://twitter.com/...
@joshconstine Josh Constine on x
@Techmeme @sarahintampa Clever of Facebook Dating to lean on Instagram to let people show the pretty side of their lives, and it has data to make smarter matches than tinder. But can it overcome its toxic brand tax?
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
Facebook Dating is now availble in the following countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Suriname, Thailand, Uruguay US, and Vietnam Available in Europe by early 2020 http…
@saraashleyo Sara Ashley O'Brien on x
Facebook's Dating service launches in the US today. And yes, Facebook is asking users to trust it with one of the most intimate activities they do online: Search for love: http://www.cnn.com/...

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