After the announcement at the F8 developer conference, Facebook is internally testing its dating product, Facebook Dating, two months later with its employees. Jane Manchun Wong, an independent app researcher, having examined the source code, found evidence of the product and had it posted on Twitter. When our sources met with Facebook, the company confirmed that it was running tests on the product in the Facebook app.
Our sources also provided us with a screenshot in which employees at Facebook communicated and it reads, “This product is for US Facebook employees who have opted-in to dogfooding Facebook’s new dating product. The purpose for this dogfooding is to test the end-to-end product experience for bugs and confusing UI. This is not meant for dating your coworkers.”
Facebook told its employees to provide fake data for their dating profiles now that the product is still being tested but before the official public launch, the company will have the data deleted. Another screenshot depicted that, “Dogfooding this product is completely voluntary and has no impact on your employment,” thus affirming the confidential nature of the product. The company also warned its employees that its anti-harassment policies are also applicable to the dating product.
There is no way of saying for sure that because this product is being tested, that it would be launched publicly. There are many cases where tested features are not launched. Be that as it may, if Facebook launches this product, it will be well received in the market of online romance. The stock price of Match Group which happens to own popular dating apps such as OKCupid and even Tinder was increased to 17 percent the day Facebook Dating was announced.
Based on the description of Facebook Dating at the F8 Developer conference, the dating product will let you create a separate profile for dating. If you find another person on the service whose profile you like and who likes yours as well, you will be able to contact them and vice versa. Facebook also described a feature which gives users the ability to make their dating profiles available to other users who may be attending the same events as them if they hope to meet and connect with them offline. According to CEO Mark Zuckerberg, “This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships — not just for hookups.”
