SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Move over Match.com.
Facebook is launching a dating feature. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said to laughs at Facebook’s f8 developer conference Tuesday that the new tool is “not just for hookups” but to build “meaningful, long-term relationships.”
That is, if you want. The feature will be opt-in, meaning you have to choose to use it. Zuckerberg also stressed that the feature was built with privacy and security in mind from the start. The company has been under fire recently for possibly not doing this with some of its features over the years.
Zuckerberg also said the dating feature will not suggest users’ friends to date. This is already what other dating apps that rely on Facebook data do, such as Tinder.
The company announced a new dating option on Tuesday called “secret crush,” which will let users create a private list of friends they’re interested in dating.
If two friends both put each other on their secret list, Facebook will alert them. The platform is also adding a feature called Make New Friends to connect users interested in meeting new people.
The company shared more news around its Facebook Dating feature, which was originally announced at F8 last year. The tool is undergoing testing in countries such as Colombia and Canada, and will roll out to 14 more countries today and to the United States later this year.
People will be able to use their first name to set up a dating profile on the platform, but it won’t be visible to friends and will not show up in News Feeds.
