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Facebook Jumps Into Online Dating

'This is going to be built around long-term relationships, not hook-ups,' Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said about the upcoming feature.

 & Michael Kan Principal Reporter

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Facebook wants to help you find love.

At Facebook's f8 developer conference today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced an upcoming online dating feature. The service is ripe for matchmaking, given that 200 million people on Facebook list themselves as singles, he said. However, "this is going to be built around long-term relationships, not hook-ups," Zuckerberg insisted.

Zuckerberg said he once met a couple who met over Facebook. But "the reality is today we haven't built any feature to help people find a partner."

Zuckerberg previewed a few screenshots of the feature, which will let you create a dating profile and meet singles outside of your friends.

Facebook's dating feature will be opt-in and will work within the company's mobile app. Users who unlock the feature will create a profile that friends can't see, and singles can then view potential matches by checking out groups or events going on nearby. They can then start chats with other singles in a messaging app that will function outside of Facebook Messenger.

Zuckerberg said the dating features are coming soon, but did not elaborate.

Facebook F8 Watch Party

Also today, he announced "Watch Party," which will let you watch online video together with your friends in a virtual chat room.

As an example, Zuckerberg showed his friends using Facebook to comment on his recent appearance on Capitol Hill.

"Now you can bring your friends together," Zuckerberg said to chuckles. "You can laugh together. You can cry together."

Another new feature is "Groups Tab," which is rolling out today. It essentially shows you which groups you belong to, and others that might be of interest. Zuckerberg hopes it'll help people grow their online communities faster.

The company is also building a "Join Group" button, which can send out invites for your group via email.

About Our Expert

Michael Kan

Michael Kan

Principal Reporter

My Experience

I've been a journalist for over 15 years. I got my start as a schools and cities reporter in Kansas City and joined PCMag in 2017, where I cover satellite internet services, cybersecurity, PC hardware, and more. I'm currently based in San Francisco, but previously spent over five years in China, covering the country's technology sector.

Since 2020, I've covered the launch and explosive growth of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service, writing 600+ stories on availability and feature launches, but also the regulatory battles over the expansion of satellite constellations, fights with rival providers like AST SpaceMobile and Amazon, and the effort to expand into satellite-based mobile service. I've combed through FCC filings for the latest news and driven to remote corners of California to test Starlink's cellular service.

I also cover cyber threats, from ransomware gangs to the emergence of AI-based malware. In 2024 and 2025, the FTC forced Avast to pay consumers $16.5 million for secretly harvesting and selling their personal information to third-party clients, as revealed in my joint investigation with Motherboard.

I also cover the PC graphics card market. Pandemic-era shortages led me to camp out in front of a Best Buy to get an RTX 3000. I'm now following how the AI-driven memory shortage is impacting the entire consumer electronics market. I'm always eager to learn more, so please jump in the comments with feedback and send me tips.

The Best Tech I've Had:

  • My first video game console: a Nintendo Famicom
  • I loved my Sega Saturn despite PlayStation's popularity.
  • The iPod Video I received as a gift in college
  • Xbox 360 FTW
  • The Galaxy Nexus was the first smartphone I was proud to own.
  • The PC desktop I built in 2013, which still works to this day.

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