Facebook to integrate dating feature into app

Facebook said Tuesday that it is entering the online dating space with unique features for more growth, despite criticism over privacy.

Speaking at the F8 Conference in San Jose, US, Mark Zuckerberg said his favourite stories from Facebook were from users who got married after meeting on the social media platform.

Zuckerberg explained that dating features would be integrated into the Facebook application.

He said the dating profile will be different from a user’s main Facebook profile and friends would not be able to see it.

According to him, the dating features is for long-term relationships and not “just hook-ups.”

“This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships — not just hook-ups,” Zuckerberg said.

“There are 200 million people on Facebook that list themselves as single, so clearly there’s something to do here.”

Following Zuckerberg’s announcement, the stocks of Match — owners of Tinder, a major dating application — plunged.

In response, Match in a statement said it would continue to delight its users through “productive innovation.”

“We’re surprised at the timing given the amount of personal and sensitive data that comes with this territory. Regardless, we’re going to continue to delight our users through product innovation and relentless focus on relationship success,” the statement read.