Facebook is now trying something new by creating a dating platform called Named Dating. Today, the new feature is undergoing its first public testing in Columbia, USA. According to Amelia Heathman of Evening Standard, this public testing “should reveal how the service will be used by the rest of the world when it is eventually rolled out to other locations.”
Facebook first announced this new feature for dating and relationships earlier this year at the company’s F8 developer conference. According to Mark Zuckerberg, there are 200 million people on Facebook who according to their profiles are single, and this new feature is “a way to help them build meaningful relationships online.”
Users of this new dating app will not have to download a separate app. Instead, they will just use the feature inside the normal Facebook app. Any Facebook user over the age of 18 can use the feature. Heathman said, “at the moment, the new features is restricted to people who live in Columbia, though eventually it will be rolled out to the rest of the world.”
Apparently, if you currently have a Facebook account, then Facebook will let you create a separate dating profile. You can fill in the dating profile with personal information such as job title, interests, height, dating preferences, religion, etc. You can also add photos of yourself or pick from different icebreaker questions created by Facebook.
Facebook Dating will match people based on the Facebook algorithm. Heathman said, “The platform will suggest potential matches depending on dating preferences, things people have in common, as well as mutual friends, though these will be restricted to people located less than 100 kilometers away from you.”
You can even decide whether you want to only match with people in a nearby location, those with children, or those within a specific age group.
Facebook did also say that there will not be any swiping going on in the Facebook dating platform. Zuckerberg said that this is because the new dating platform is about ‘building real, long-term relationships, not just hook-ups.”
It will be interesting to see if this new Facebook dating platform will turn out to be as successful as other popular dating platforms.
