Facebook testing dating feature, ‘Create’ button

MANILA, Philippines – Facebook is reportedly testing a couple of new features that could soon be added to the platform – a dating service and a “Create” button.

Earlier this year, Facebook at its F8 developer conference unveiled plans to add a dating feature in the platform. Now, the social media giant is testing the feature internally with employees.

A Twitter user named Jane Manchun Wong shared screenshots of what she uncovered from Facebook’s tests. She was able to create a profile but did not get past the sign-in screen.

“This product is for US Facebook employees who have opted-in to dogfooding Facebook’s new dating product. The purpose for this dogfooding is to test the end-to-end product experience for bugs and confusing UI (user interface). This is not meant for dating your coworkers,” Facebook told The Verge.

Dogfooding is an informal term used by companies to describe internal testing.

Facebook asked their employees to use fake data for their dating profiles and promised to delete them all before the product’s launch.

The company looks to compete with popular dating apps like Tinder with the rollout of the feature which Mark Zuckerberg touted as being able to build “real, long-term relationships, not just hookups.” The company has yet to announce when the feature will rollout.

The social network is also testing out a “Create” button in the desktop version of the platform.

The button will be located in the top-right corner of the page and leads to a drop-down menu where people can choose to create a group, an event, a brand page, a marketplace post, or an advertisement. 

Facebook is likely still undecided on what the new button will look like as CNET reported that it appears as “+” sign for some and “Create” for others.

The new button will be widely rolled out in desktop versions of Facebook in the coming weeks. – Rappler.com