Facebook joins the dating game
Single? Facebook wants to help you change your relationship status.
The social network is introducing a dating feature that will allow users to build profiles to meet potential suitors.
The new feature is “not just for hookups,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday at the company’s developer conference, F8. Rather, it’s designed to build “meaningful long-term relationships.”
The news triggered a sell-off in shares associated with existing dating services. Match Group, the parent of Match.com, saw its stock drop over 22 percent. IAC, the parent of hookup app Tinder and Match Group, fell over 16 percent.
The panic could be shortlived, analysts for Piper-Jaffray said in a note to clients shortly after the announcement.
Facebook isn’t assured success in the dating game despite its stable of over 2 billion users. That’s because the social network is skewing older — not exactly the prime demographic for people on the market.
Executives at Match Group
and Tinder said they were not worried by Facebook’s new entrance, even taking a swipe at the social network’s trouble with foreign interference.
“Come on in. The water’s warm. Their product could be great for U.S./Russia relationships,” Joey Levin, Tinder’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Mandy Ginsberg, chief executive of Match Group, made a jab at Facebook’s controversy over user privacy.
“We’re flattered that Facebook is coming into our space,” Ginsberg said. “We’re surprised at the timing given the amount of personal and sensitive data that comes with this territory.”
Users will have to opt into Facebook’s dating feature and their profiles will be separate from their regular Facebook profiles.
In a separate announcement Tuesday, Facebook said it would allow users to delete personal information provided to Facebook by outside sites and apps, and bar Facebook from obtaining such data in the future.
Such information is often collected when a user signs in to an outside site or app using their Facebook login. It can also be collected if they like or share something on Facebook from those sites or apps.
“If you clear your history or use the new setting, we’ll remove identifying information so a history of the websites and apps you’ve used won’t be associated with your account,” Erin Egan, vice president and chief privacy officer for Facebook, said in a blog post.
The move underscores again how much Facebook is committed to self-regulation in lieu of any action from lawmakers in Washington.