Looking for love in all the wrong places? Well, Facebook has you covered.
There’s a new way to search for your soulmate online: the app Facebook Dating is now available for Facebook’s U.S. users ages 18 and up. Anyone who wants to can download the app and Facebook Dating will generate a new profile that is separate from your Facebook current profile.
Your first name and age are the only two pieces of information that are shared from your personal profile. There are places on your dating profile where you may allow what is seen and what is not seen.
You may also choose to include details such as your gender identity, hometown, occupation and religion — just like on other dating apps.
The dating app will never show information on your personal Facebook profile page, so none of you family or friends will be able to see your dating activity.
One of the neat features within Facebook Dating is the Secret Crush option. This allows users to compile a list of existing Facebook friends whom they be interested in. If one of those friends adds your profile on their own Secret Crush list, it notifies each party that there is interest on both sides.
A neat feature if you ever wanted to know who be crushin’ on you!
Since Instagram and Facebook are part of the same company, you can choose to have the two products integrated in order to add Instagram followers to your Secret Crush list. That may give you a wider net! You can express interest in up to nine Facebook friends or Instagram followers.
Secret Crush won’t notify you of a crush unless that crush has also added you!
“By the end of the year, we’ll make it possible to add Facebook [posts] and Instagram Stories to your Dating profile too,” Facebook said when it announced the launch of the dating feature Sept. 5.
Here’s how it works, according to the tech giant:
• People are suggested based on your preferences, interests and other things you do on Facebook. (However, your current Facebook friends will never be suggested as potential matches — awkward! — nor will anyone you’ve ever blocked.)
• If you are interested in someone, you can comment directly on their Facebook Dating profile or tap on the Like button to let them know.
• If you aren’t interested, you can pass on them.
Seems simple enough, and it’s free!
Safety Precautions
Facebook Dating also includes several safety precautions.
When you go on a date, you can temporarily share your live location with a friend or family member via Messenger. You can also choose “share your plans” and inform a friend or family member the details about who you are meeting and where.
You can prevent anyone from sending pictures, videos, links or payments within messages. You can also report and block any user, as well as delete your Facebook Dating profile at any time.
Facebook Dating has been available in other countries for more than a year and the U.S. is the 20th country to join. We hope Facebook Dating it will bring lots of couples together!