Single, in a relationship, or “it’s complicated?”
Apart from its major design overhaul, social media platform Facebook is also rolling out a new and much-awaited feature in its mobile apps: a built-in dating app.
The new feature, aptly named Facebook Dating, aims to make it easier for those who want to join a dating site by streamlining processes within the app. Previously, if users wanted to join one, they would have to sign up separately. Although some dating apps, like the multi-billion dollar platform Tinder, allows connecting the app to Facebook, having a feature such as Facebook Dating would make things significantly faster for users. Some critics are already saying that Facebook Dating could one-up Tinder, since many people already own a Facebook account.
One of the things that makes Facebook Dating stand out is its “Secret Crush” feature, which allows users to pick 9 people from their friend list and add them to a “Secret Crush” list. Those who are added will receive a notification, but they won’t know who added them to the list. If both users added each other to their respective lists, they will then be matched and their identities will be revealed.
Facebook Dating has already been available in Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Thailand for about a year now, but Facebook has also expanded the feature to other countries, namely Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Laos, Malaysia, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Suriname, Uruguay, and Vietnam. Hopefully, it will be expanding to the US sometime later this year or next year.
