Less than two months since it was exposed it let apps use users profile data for psychographic tools:
Facebook unveils online dating feature to rival Tinder (independent.co.uk).
The unveiling of the new service by the social media site’s CEO was made at the F8 developers conference at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center in California on Tuesday.
Mr Zuckerberg said more than 200 million people on Facebook list themselves as single and that the new platform would let them connect with people outside of their friends list.
So presumably new dubious apps slipping under the radar can use their profile data too. And of course, there’s undoubted ad revenue potential for actual rather than emoji chocolates, roses, and big red hearts with Zuck’s promises of the soon to be launched service as “This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships—not just for hookups”.
Well, the social media has long been for many little more than a jumbo dating or at least flirting site so why not stick the sticker too. But as for its dating feature being a rival for swipeable hookup app Tinder:
Facebook Dating isn’t after Tinder, it’s out to get 50-somethings laid (wired.co.uk).
Zuckerberg likely knows that a dating feature is unlikely to halt the procession of younger people heading for rival services like Snapchat. What it can do is make the people who are still on Facebook spend more time in the app.
Indeed, the young not wanting to be on something with elder relatives able to embarrass them in front of their friends.
Amongst older users, Facebook is still seeing impressive growth. It has an established user base who it can now try and tempt into creating dating profiles with minimal fuss and friction.
With various lotions, pills, and pumps ad revenue attractive for said “fuss and friction”.
Recent/related stories
- Pressure mounts on Cambridge Analytica and Facebook over harvested data scandal (Blog 18th March 2018)
- Facebook says experts can’t be trusted, wants community to decide which media to trust, want’s community to talk about ‘local news’ instead (Blog 22nd January 2018)
- Love in the age of apps… it’s complicated (for profit at least) (thisisnocave.blogspot.co.uk 18th February 2017)
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