Facebook Finds a New Service To Copy: Tinder (vice.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report from Motherboard, written by Jacob Dube: Facebook is trying out a new feature that connects users on its Messenger chat platform, but only if they both accept. It looks a lot like Tinder, except it only appears to be connecting people who are already friends with each other. While using Facebook on my phone Wednesday night, I was greeted by a notification that said "[Name redacted] and 15 others may want to meet up with you this week." When I opened the link, I was taken to a page with photos of my Facebook friends and a question: "Want to meet up with [name redacted] this week?" It indicated that my response would be private unless we both said yes. Tap "No Thanks," and that's the end of it. The feature seems to be in beta, and, though it is currently available to me and a few of my friends in Canada, the rest of Motherboard was unable to access it. It's unclear what the feature might be called. It's not hard to see the similarity between the feature and dating apps like Tinder or Bumble, but the Facebook feature seems to connect you only to people you already know, and could have already reached on the Messenger app. The feature didn't just show me potential love interests, however. It also displayed some of my friends, indicating that it might be used to encourage people who are already friends on Facebook to hang out IRL. "People often use Facebook to make plans with their friends," a Facebook spokesperson told Motherboard in an email. "So, we're running a very small test in the Facebook app to make that easier. We look forward to hearing people's feedback." The test is reportedly limited to a small number of users in parts of Toronto and New Zealand, on iOS and Android.

Comments

Social media depression

[amanaplanacanalpanam]

So now I can feel guilty when declining requests by people I don't want to hang out with...and feel rejected when people I do want to hang out with decline mine.

Re:Social media depression

[rmdingler]

Sort of like when people you're not that into send a friend request, and when you send a friend request to people not that into you...

clearly, that's a new experience for the Facebook faithful.

Re:Creimer's a homo

[rogoshen1]

the only grinder he's into is the sandwich variety, and he's what you'd call an enthusiast.

Let me get this straight

[93 Escort Wagon]

So the website which lets you pretend to be "friends" with a bunch of people you haven't seen in years is trying to develop a specific service where you use the website to see if they want to meet up in real life? Like you wouldn't have thought of that yourself, already?

What is this actually adding to the equation, other than maybe some level of plausible deniability?

Re:Let me get this straight

[bill_mcgonigle]

What is this actually adding to the equation, other than maybe some level of plausible deniability?

Most people are too shy to just text "DTF?" to their local friends.

Re:Let me get this straight

[rogoshen1]

surprised it's not including the people who've you searched for (or have searched for you)

that would make way, way more sense (other than the obvious creepy factor)

Re:Let me get this straight

[Gilgaron]

Ooh good call, they'll totally do that even if they don't admit to it...

Re:Let me get this straight

[dgatwood]

What is this actually adding to the equation, other than maybe some level of plausible deniability?

And only in one direction. If it asks you, you can't assume that the other person has said yes. But if you say yes and it doesn't "connect" you, or whatever, you can assume that the other person said no. So the person who got dissed knows it, but the person who isn't interested can't tell that the other person is.

It might be better if there were a degree of randomness, where you couldn't be certain whether the other person was even asked, or where maybe the person is a friend of a friend instead of someone you actually know....

That said, this is arguably worse than having no plausible deniability; in fact, it's exactly backwards from an ideal outcome. An ideal design would be to minimize the chances of someone getting hurt, such that the person who get rejected wouldn't know that he/she got rejected, but so that the person would know for sure if he/she got asked because the other person was interested or just randomly. An algorithm for achieving such an outcome is left as an exercise for the reader.

Re:Let me get this straight

[DontBeAMoran]

Zuck: Yeah so if you ever need info about anyone at Harvard
Zuck: Just ask.
Zuck: I have over 4,000 emails, pictures, addresses, SNS
[Redacted Friend's Name]: What? How'd you manage that one?
Zuck: People just submitted it.
Zuck: I don't know why.
Zuck: They "trust me"
Zuck: Dumb fucks.

Re:Let me get this straight

[coofercat]

It's almost like they've invented a way to contact people you know - sort of like a paper letter, but electronic, but at the same time sort of like a phone call, but one you type out rather than using your voice.

I tell you, those FB engineers have really excelled this time ;-)

Gotta say it

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

I've got to say that if I had a Facecrook account, I'd be annoyed but since I don't, I find the whole thing amusing!

Re:Gotta say it

[JohnStock]

You said "Facecrook" oh how clever.. Do you use "M$" too? well done.

Re:Gotta say it

[DontBeAMoran]

Those with a facebook icon next to their username have no business posting anything about facebook.

Re:Gotta say it

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

You said "Facecrook" oh how clever.. Do you use "M$" too? well done.

....says the schmuck with a Facebook tag to the right of his name! LOL, too funny!

Do you work for them or do you just suck Zuckerberg's cock for free?

Re:Gotta say it

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Facecrook... How clever... Do you also say Shillary?

No, I say "The candidate who was so bad that even a lying, cheating scumbag like Donald Trump could beat her".

They are calling the new app

[Anonymous Coward]

Friends with Benefits

Do you know X?

[Anonymous Coward]

According to our big data analysis, you two should fuck.

So turning it into another dating site then?

[ShamblerBishop]

Generally when people get together with someone after meeting online, they'll close off their online dating accounts - since people won't want their partner to still be using an online dating site, while with them - something Facebook should consider if they're going to try and go down this route...

OPT OUT OPTION PLEASE

[zifn4b]

Facebook, please give us a way to opt out of these additional services. I'm not interested in a marketplace or these add-on services you keep adding. If you're going to add it, at least allow me to customize my experience to suit my preferences, k thx bai. I have actually started using Facebook a lot less. There is a game I really like that I found on Facebook but now because they keep making Facebook into this hulking albatross, I found a way to access it outside of Facebook. If it weren't for me wanting to keep somewhat in touch with old friends and family, I probably wouldn't use Facebook at all.

Re: Not the First time...

[gnick]

At first I got a kick out of seeing random pretty girls, but it

The cake is a lie.

Relationship status

[crtreece]

I wonder what the relationship status (single, married, complicated) the people this is going out to have set. Knowing that would give a clue as to whether this was supposed to be a dating tool, or just some push to get you meeting up with people IRL.

Bang With Friends redux

[JimDot]

The Bang With Friends app lets you tag friends you want to bang. If they happen to also use the app and also tag you then it connects you. It made news 4-5 years ago but it appears to still be around: https://www.facebook.com/searc...