Just when you thought it couldn't intrude any more into your personal life, Facebook announced that it’s working on a dating service.
At this year's Facebook F8 conference, we learned that the Facebook's attempt at helping you find dates is set to take on the best dating apps in the U.S. sometime in 2019. It's also going to have an interesting and slightly creepy new feature: the mysterious Secret Crush.
Whether you're nervous or excited for Facebook's Tinder rival, here's everything you need to know about the new dating service.
Is there a Facebook dating site?
Facebook will not run an independent dating site. However, the social network is working on a dating service (still part of Facebook, and connected to your Facebook account). The service aims to help you find long-term partners based on your location, interests and mutual friends.
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What is the Facebook dating site called?
It's not clear if there is a specific name. Facebook tends to refer to the service as Dating on Facebook, while many news outlets have colloquially referred to it as Facebook Dating.
When will Facebook Dating be available?
Facebook is testing the feature in several countries throughout Asia and the Americas, including Colombia, Thailand, Canada, Argentina, the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, Suriname and Mexico.
U.S. users, however, shouldn't get too excited yet. Facebook has said the feature will come "later this year."
How do I access Facebook Dating?
Once Facebook's dating feature is available in your country, you'll see a banner on top of your News Feed inviting you to try it out.
From there, you'll be able to fill out your profile, including details like a bio, education, religion, photos and other preferences.
From then on, you can access your Dating homepage from the menu in the bottom right corner of the Facebook app. Dating is available only on mobile.
Once you've completed your profile and enough people in your area have signed up for the service, you'll see potential matches. If one catches your eye, you can let them know you're interested and start a chat.
Facebook will also recommend events and groups in your area that it thinks might interest you.
Can you delete your Facebook dating profile?
You can easily opt out of Facebook Dating at any point. Facebook told Cnet that deleting your dating profile also erases all of its data.
Also, if you delete your Facebook profile, your dating profile will be gone as well.
How do I delete Facebook Dating?
Go to your Dating Settings. Under Dating Account, select Delete Profile.
What is Secret Crush?
Secret Crush is a feature of the Facebook dating service that helps you find out if secret crushes like you back. Once you've joined Dating on Facebook, you'll be able to create a list of up to nine Facebook friends that you're interested in. If they also join Dating on Facebook, they'll be notified that they have a secret crush. If they also create a Secret Crush list and put you on it, Facebook will let both of you know that you've matched.
Don't worry — to make sure nobody spams the feature to suss out their admirers, Facebook will let you swap out only one crush per day.
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Monica Chin
Monica Chin is a writer at The Verge, covering computers. Previously, she was a staff writer for Tom's Guide, where she wrote about everything from artificial intelligence to social media and the internet of things to. She had a particular focus on smart home, reviewing multiple devices. In her downtime, you can usually find her at poetry slams, attempting to exercise, or yelling at people on Twitter.
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