“Dating” on Facebook

The dating industry as a whole is an ever growing industry with many people looking for that special spark from the comfort of their own home. While Facebook originally started as a social platform with some online dating elements, as of Sept. 20th 2018, they decided to have their own dedicated section for dating. Currently this feature is still exclusive for some counties, but it is only a matter of time before this will be available for all their single (and not so single) users. As an avid participant of online dating sites, curiosity was definitely a factor when I decided to sign up. After about a month of use I wanted to share some of my opinions on Facebook’s development. Please note that I’m not including my thoughts on “Secret Crush” as I have not tested it out myself, nor do I really plan on doing so.

Getting Started
If you happen to live in any of the countries that “Dating” is available in, you may get an message/ad to join. If Big Brother Facebook doesn’t notice that you’re a lonely soul, don’t worry you can alternatively access it from the menu option. Simply click on “See More” and look for a pinky red and purple heart to start creating your portfolio.
It is important to note that this is only accessible through the mobile app. It is unknown to me if Facebook plans on allowing this service onto their desktop platform in the future. Considering their target market, I wouldn’t think that they would be in a hurry to add it.
Conveniently speaking, Facebook will upload your current profile photo that you’re using on your account. They won’t import any of your other information aside from your location, so you need to fill that in yourself. This allows you to have control over what is seen publicly. You can easily change the initial profile photo and add more photos or answer some ice breaker questions. You are also able to write a short blurb about yourself or what you’re looking for. While you cannot limit who is able to see your profile, you can set a limit to what you’re attracted to based on age and distance.

The UI/UX Design
As of when I’m writing this post, I’m not a huge fan of their design choices, functions, and bugs. Aside from your profile, you have 3 areas to interact with your potential matches. You are greeted with a random user (within your filters if you set them up) in your area. If you scroll down you can see other members that signed up in previous events that you have attended. You have to select which events you want to go through to see matches. There isn’t a specific search option or a way to go through profiles without going onto their profile. This means you can’t simply swipe through profiles, but you can speed through accounts by selecting “No Thanks” or “Like”. The profile can either be long or short depending on how much content is shared. The style is done in a stacked formation, profile photo, their blurb (if they wrote one), general location and miscellaneous information they added, and their selection of photos/short answers. By selecting any other their photos or short answers you can opt to send them a message and start a conversation that way. If you make a mistake rejecting someone you can go back under the options to give them a second chance. However this goes in the order of whom you most recently passed.

Next up, you can see which people in your area has interest in you. Regardless if you placed a filter or not, you will still receive all of the people that have shown interest in you. Similarly to the “Suggested Matches” you go through their profile. The only difference is that if you’re attracted to them it is a confirmed match up if you select “Like” or respond to their message by selecting on what they sent you. This can be nice for people worried about rejection and need that initial indicator that people are interested in them (myself included).

Lastly the messaging area has everyone that you have mutually approved of and started a conversation with. It’s pretty simplistic in itself, send a like, gif, and a message. You can’t just go back to look at their profile without scrolling back up to the very top, which can be a little annoying if you like to check profiles periodically. The messaging service does not allow you to send links for you to click off from. You need to be fairly dedicated to re-type out the link url into a different browser to see what the other person has sent you. All the memes that you can’t find in the gif section will have to be saved to a different messaging service.

How Does it Compare?
I have dabbled in many different dating apps currently available to Canadians. In my opinion Facebook Dating needs to update heavily or find their own niche as it is lacking compared to what is currently offered in the online dating market. Of course I do have my own personal preferences, so take my pro and con comments with a grain of salt. While I have been using these apps on and off for the past 5 – 4 years, everyone have their own particular dating style and that is the same for online dating.

Pros:
Dating is currently completely free and fairly straight forward to figure out. You don’t need to a subscription fee in order to see people that has expressed interest in you or to go back and change your mind on some users that you have rejected. It’s conveniently located in the same app so there is no need to download anything. Notifications are connected to your main app as well, so everything can be fairly discreet if that is your style. You can also easily turn off notifications and just see the number of messages waiting for you to answer when you go to select the app.

Cons:
The design is very simplistic, and while it has adopted that style it feel fairly dated. This is may be because it didn’t adopt the swipe motion that was best popularized by tinder. While it does get users to attempt to actually look into each member’s profile, the users that are actually interested will take the time to do so. However I recognize that this function is probably not meant for the speedy user. The style that the profile is set up in feels a little cluttered with its stacked style format. You can’t edit the order of your photos and short answers without deleting and reuploading content

Last Thoughts
Dating is still very much in it’s early stages of it’s development. I do think it will struggle compared to more well known platforms as a result. Granted they have a lot of time to work out the kinks their user base grows. They are still yet to completely launch in their largest markets (purely by Facebook users India and USA), so they should have a more completed dating service by the time of launch. As a result I am unsure if their services will slowly be become a paid service or include “premium services” for functions that are currently free. I would still give it a try since everyone has different dating preferences. It’s free, and Facebook already have all your information, why not add dating in the mix.

Good Luck