Apart from connecting with friends, entertainment, and business promotion, you can actually use Facebook for dating.
We’re not talking about the messages you get on Facebook Messenger from random strangers on your friend list. But more like Tinder, Bumble, and similar dating apps, where you can create a dating profile, swipe for matches, and connect with potential matches.
Facebook is a social media giant that has grown into a multi-billion dollar platform with roughly 2.95 billion monthly active users. Now, they have recently expanded their services to allow people to hook up and potentially meet significant others.
But how does dating work on Facebook?
Let’s get into it.
What is Facebook dating?
Facebook dating is a space within Facebook that allows you to meet and connect with people through shared things, like groups, interests, and activities. It’s a free dating service.
There aren’t many people using this feature yet, but it could be perfect for you if you’re looking to form meaningful connections without having to fill up your phone’s memory with dating apps.
This feature was launched in 2019 and is available on iPhone and Android. You can’t access Facebook dating through a web browser, and it’s only available in some parts of the world. However, they are gradually rolling it out to the remaining parts.
Who can use Facebook dating?
You can use this feature if you have the following qualifications:
- You are above 18 years old.
- You have an active Facebook profile that’s at least 30 days old.
- You live in a country where this feature is available.
Facebook dating is available in the United States, United Kingdom, and other countries, including Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guyana, Hungary, Italy, Iceland, Ireland, Laos, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, the Philippines, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Thailand, Uruguay, and Vietnam.
Is Facebook dating different from Facebook?
Yes, the two are different, even though you have to have a Facebook profile to access Facebook dating.
How do they differ?
- Even though you access the service from your main profile, the dating profile is separate from your main profile. Therefore, your Facebook friends can’t see your dating profile. Also, your activities on the dating profile aren’t visible on your main feed.
- Messages from the dating profile are separate from messages on Facebook messenger.
- You can delete your dating profile without deleting your Facebook profile. However, if you delete your main Facebook account, you delete your dating profile.
How to activate the dating feature on your Facebook account
The signup process is pretty straightforward. Here are the steps to activating your Facebook dating profile.
- Open the Facebook app on your phone and click on the menu bar in the lower right.
- Scroll down through all shortcuts until you see the dating option, and click on it. If you can’t seem to find it, tap on the see more option. It has a love heart icon.
- Alternatively, you can click on the search bar of your main page and type “Facebook dating.”
- Tap on the get started button to start creating your dating profile.
- At this point, you can fill in your details. Facebook already has some of your information from your main account, which will be displayed here. You can edit or remove any unwanted information from your dating profile. But you can’t change your name or age for verification purposes.
- You can include specific details about you such as height, location, whether you have kids, religion, etc.
- Next, set up your match preferences (man, woman, or transgender.) You can also set up preferences based on specific things such as age range, height range, religion, education level, location, etc.
- Finally, you’ll have to upload some photos of yourself. You can have up to 12 photos on your dating profile.
- Review your profile details, then tap confirm to publish your dating profile.
How does Facebook dating work?
First, you can access your dating profile like any other activity. Tap on the menu button and click on “dating” to launch your dating profile.
If you’ve used other dating apps, then Facebook dating shouldn’t be a big challenge because it uses the same swiping technique as the rest. It allows you to swipe through glances at people you might be interested in.
At your “Facebook dating home,” you’ll notice three options at the top of the page: “profile,” “liked you,” and “matches.”
- Profile: This is where you can edit your profile. You can click on this button if you want to add more details or remove some information.
- Liked you: If you tap on this bar, you can see everyone who has already liked your profile. You can choose to either like them back or dismiss them.
- Matches: If both of you like each other, you’ll have a match, and you can start engaging in conversations.
Just slightly below the three buttons, there’s the middle part where you can see a photo of a potential match. There are two important buttons slightly below the photo: a heart icon and an X icon, both meant to either like or dismiss the person.
If you tap on the photo, you can find more details about the person to see if they are interesting. Then you can swipe right or left depending on whether you like them. In addition, you can interact with different parts of a person’s profile, like liking specific photos or answering their questions.
More to explore
Scrolling down the home screen, you can see the “more to explore” tab. In this section, you can find more exciting features unique to Facebook dating.
First, there’s the “shared interests” option, where you can match with people with whom you have shared interests. Then there’s the “second look” feature. This is where you get a second chance to re-browse the people you had previously dismissed.
You can also see the events in common and groups in common tabs under the same section. These two features work almost the same way. You’ll be matched with people who want to attend similar events as you and who are members of the same Facebook groups as you.
Finally, the secret crush feature lets you match with people (Facebook Dating users) you already know on Facebook or Instagram. This feature allows you to add up to nine of your friends. The friends will then receive a notification that someone has added them as a secret crush. If they happen to add you back as a crush, your identity is revealed, and the two of you will match.
Conclusion
Most people use Facebook to connect with friends and family. But now, you can use the app to find a potential partner, especially if Facebook is a big player in your social media life.
Facebook Dating allows you to connect with people with whom you share some things in common, such as interests, events, or groups. Compared to other dating apps, it has quite a few interesting and unique features that can be fun to try, such as secret crushes.
The good news is that you don’t need to download anything to create a dating profile. And just like other free dating apps, it wont cost you anything—meaning no premium subscriptions or hidden charges. Oh, and your Facebook friends don’t need to know what you’re up to on the other side since it’s a separate feature within the app.
