At its annual F8 conference in May, Facebook revealed that it was working on a Facebook dating app service for its users. Now, app researcher Jane Manchun Wong discovered evidence that the company has begun internally testing the feature among its employees. Facebook confirmed to multiple outlets that it started testing, but didn’t elaborate further.
Per Wong’s screenshots, it seems Facebook is encouraging (but not requiring) its American employees to participate in the test by filling in profiles with fake data, which it will purge prior to public launch: “This product is for US Facebook employees who have opted-in to dogfooding Facebook’s new dating product,” a screenshot read. “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 is internally testing Facebook Dating.
I can’t go past the signup screen because they are not activating all non-employee Dating profiles because, well, it’s “pre-launch” 😉 pic.twitter.com/VQFHUJIkuX
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) August 3, 2018
The screenshots reveal privacy settings to limit who can and can’t see a user’s dating profile. Users can also select trans and non-binary options for gender identity and desired matches. But as with any product in testing, there’s no guarantee it will look like this or have these features, and Facebook hasn’t set a target date for when its facebook dating app feature will go public.
Facebook asked employees to use fake data for their dating profiles, and plans to delete all data before the public launch. “Dogfooding this product is completely voluntary and has no impact on your employment,” a screenshot reads, adding that the product is confidential. It also warns employees that its anti-harassment policies apply to the dating product.
Other screenshots show the sign-up flow for a Facebook dating app, including options to specify your gender, your location, and which genders you’re interested in matching with. Wong was able to fill in her own information but prevented from actually creating the dating profile.
As described on stage, Facebook Dating app will allow you to create a separate profile for dating. When you and another person using the service like one another’s profiles, you’ll be allowed to contact them. The company also described a feature that would let you make your dating profile visible for people attending the same event as you, in hopes of generating more offline connections. “This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships — not just for hookups,” Mark Zuckerberg said in his announcement.
Source:- The Verge
