Facebook appears to be testing a new feature that will show users when their friends have recently been active on its Dating mode.
Some members have started to see a list on their main News Feed with a number of their contacts who have “Recently Used Dating”. It appears to be an accumulation of the individuals who were on the online dating platform in the past few days.
This could be the latest marketing effort to encourage people to migrate over to Dating by playing on the community’s fear of missing out (FOMO).
However, there is the possibility that the update could actually deter people from signing up, as they might not want to appear on a similar list for their other friends. Facebook has continually insisted that Dating will remain separate from the main social network, despite both services functioning in the same app.
Harrison Brocklehurst recently reviewed Facebook Dating for The Tab and his main criticism was the lack of a separate app. Users never receive message notifications so it’s often hard for conversations to establish any level of momentum.
Facebook doesn’t suggest existing friends as potential matches, but introduced the ‘Secret Crush’ feature two years ago with aims to facilitate mutual crushes. Singles can add up to nine friends that they like and if one of them creates a Dating profile, but they will only be notified if they add the other person to their own list.
The Verge uncovered screenshots in April appearing to indicate that the platform is a long way behind its rivals, especially in major markets.
Adverts told consumers how many Dating users are in their area. According to this information, there were under 300,000 in New York City.
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