Facebook to introduce dating feature within its app

One of the interesting announcements from Facebook at the F8 developer conference event yesterday was the fact that the social media giant is building a feature for dating and relationships within the Facebook app.

“This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships — not just hook-ups,” Zuckerberg said.

In a Facebook blog, the company said, “People already use Facebook to meet new people, and we want to make that experience better. People will be able to create a dating profile that is separate from their Facebook profile — and potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends. They’ll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events. However, what people do within the dating feature will not be shown to their friends.”

Facebook said it would share more information when testing begins later this year.

Facebook with its more than 2.2 billion monthly active users,  will definitely make incumbents like Tinder and Bumble very anxious with the introduction of its app.