Mark ZuckerbergWednesday, 2 May 2018 ()
by Graham Pierrepoint 
It’s hardly been a great 2018 for Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg thus far, what with the social network having been privy to an immense scandal surrounding the use of user data in line with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Following the breaking news, however, the platform has appeared to busy itself by pressing on with developing more and more – and if news regarding their next move is anything to go by, many of us may be wondering quite what took so long.
Online dating is no longer taboo – many people meet their long-term partners through dating services such as Match, OKCupid and, most recently, Tinder – and Facebook seems to be making a move into the world of stranger matchmaking that crowns them a little bit of a late challenger. The network will, in months to come, allow you to create your own dating profile and will offer its own algorithms to help match you with like-minded people with similar tastes and interests. Coupled with Facebook’s features, this means you’ll be matched up on a series of data that the platform is likely hoping won’t be met by rival platforms such as Tinder’s app-based swiping.
“(…) potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends,” a statement advised. “They’ll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events.” Don’t worry – it won’t be public knowledge that you’re using Facebook for dating – but it does seem like a rather logical step in the right direction for a service that has always been about bringing people together and sharing lives.
Facebook’s dating platform will reportedly roll out in the very near future, with testing thought to be starting at some point in late 2018. This is great news for anyone looking for that special someone who may not have had much luck with Tinder or other services – and it will be interesting to see where Zuckerberg and co’s dating model will sit amongst the competition. Has the announcement come at the right time? We’ll have to wait and see – interest in Facebook’s role in data sharing is still yet to wane – meaning that the network may not be out of the woods just yet. Would you set up your own dating profile on Facebook? It won’t be long until you can give it a try.