Companies behind Online dating apps are a tad wary right now. Facebook’s foray into the market has them on the edge. Many apps are linked in one way or another to the social media giant, & they are obviously apprehensive that FB Dating may make them all superfluous sometime in the future. Such fears have be so, but Facebook says it’s offering differs markedly from many of the current dating services or apps.
Today, we take a look at a few of the popular dating apps of 2019 & the possible effects of FB Dating on them.
Tinder
Boasting of about 50 million users, Tinder is very much a giant social network in its right. The app revolutionized the Online dating scene because instead of hooking users up according to their personalities, the app set out to cater to people’s physical attraction to one another. However, the ‘safety factor’ was built into the app based on a user’s Facebook profile—you couldn’t originally join Tinder without a Facebook presence(changed after the massive data leaks Facebook experienced, altered their rules to allow users to join using their mobile number.)
Tinder’s system allows users to ‘swipe’ through a set of photos, which the app’s algorithm selects as possible matches based on location & a very general ‘interests’ compatibility factor. Each user has a short biography attached to their profile picture, but it’s how good you ‘look’ to a potential partner that matters most. Users select possible matches by swiping left or right, & the app hooks users up who have chosen each other in this simple manner.
Facebook Dating, on the other hand, is more focused on matching people up according to their interests, location & broader group of friends—sort of friends of friends, if you like, rather than your closest buddies. So, for one, Tinder might withstand the Facebook onslaught due to its vastly different selection model, alone.
Bumble
Very similar to Tinder, Bumble works to match your minimal profile from a pool of users who share similar preferences, location & sexual orientation. Like Tinder, you can ‘swipe’ left or right on the photos the app’s algorithm selects for you.
The salient difference, is that woman must make the first move to open a line of communication with potential suitors. If the female does not pick up on a profile in 24hours, the match disappears.
Similarly, the receiver has a limited time frame to respond to a request, otherwise this is also ‘wiped’. The idea is to protect the woman from sexual harassment while searching for a legitimate partner. The app’s approx. 55 million users, mostly under the age of 35, is proof that this might be just what today’s youth is after from a dating application.
A user’s Facebook profile is used by the app for both joining up & selecting profile pictures, but the app’s original dating model should see it survive Facebook’s presence on the scene.
Match
One of the oldest & most used applications, Match requires users to complete a detailed profile questionnaire before they can join. The app then uses this set of data to discover a potential ‘match’ for you from its vast database of users. Pictures are far less important, with this application, since it’s based on a personality & interests compatibility test.
This type of application, with its relatively high membership fees, seems more at risk from Facebook, since this match discovery tool is very similar to Facebook’s. But the latter’s advantage is that it already has most of your data, such as age, location, hobbies, preferences & photos on hand, so you won’t need to fill out any lengthy forms to get started. Also, so far Facebook’s offering is free.
Now, over to Facebook Dating…..
Facebook Dating
Facebook dating has rolled out in 18 countries worldwide so far, while the US was brought on board earlier this week. Setting up is no more difficult than choosing to become a member, the only requirement is that you must be single. Facebook’s compatibility algorithm then goes to work to find a match for you from its 3 billion strong database.
While your current ‘friends list’ is not part of the applications pool of potential suitors, you can engage a feature called ‘Secret Crush’ to identify a set of up to 9 friends, from your Facebook profile, whom you fancy for a date. If that person also names you, the app will hook you up, otherwise no one will be the wiser.
Facebook has a large following, but young people have been drifting away of late. By offering users the opportunity to find ‘love’, the social network hopes to re-engage lost users, & find favor with those young people who might not be attracted to its current social, rather than dating model.
For those who’ve always felt comfortable on Facebook because there’s no question that you’re socializing rather than ‘cruising’ for a hook-up, something might well be lost.
Image Credit: Facebook
