Facebook Launch Dating App That Reveals Which Friends Fancy You

It's been a long time coming, but Facebook finally launched their very own dating app this week.

Facebook Dating was launched in the US on Thursday, and is set to come to the UK and Europe early next year.

While users will need Facebook to access the app, they will be invited to create a standalone profile. It will also be connectable with Instagram and allow users to show posts and photos from their profile.

As well as matching users with potential matches outside of their friendship circle, the app allows users to choose up to nine Facebook friends they have a 'secret crush' on and if the feeling is mutual both users will be notified.

Facebook Dating comes after dating apps such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble paved the way for app dating. Pew Research found that 59% of adults now think online dating is a good way to meet people, while 70% of same sex couples were meeting online by 2010 according to sociologists Michael Rosenfeld and Reuben Thomas.

The new app certainly has competition, as Tinder has 57million users worldwide. Happn, which works by showing users potential matches they have crossed paths with, has 12million.

The CEO of Match group, which houses Tinder, OKCupid, Plenty of Fish and Match.com, doesn't seem phased by the competition. Speaking after Facebook’s F8 developer conference where the app was announced in April this year, Mandy Ginsberg said, “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. We understand this category better than anyone."

Facebook has been hit with multiple privacy scandals over the years, with 419million mobile phone numbers from the site exposed in an online database being discovered just this week.

However Mark Zuckerberg has assured potential users that the app has been built "with safety in mind".

“Your friends aren’t going to see your profile, and you’re only going to be suggested to people who are not your friends,” he said.

“This is going to be for building real, long-term relationships – not just for hookups."

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