Background
Though social media itself is still a relatively new phenomenon, the way in which people have been using the Internet to interact with one another is constantly changing in a way that promotes connectivity now more than ever. One part of social media in particular that has been drawing people together in a unique way is online dating.
Online dating is still a fairly new aspect of social media, with the first official dating site, Match.com, being introduced in 1995, followed by eHarmony in 2000 (Matthews, 2018). Since then, there has been a significant increase in the popularity of dating platforms, as more and more individuals begin relying on the Internet to play their matchmaker. Apps like Tinder and Bumble have been dominating the online dating scene, but one of the latest contributions comes from the #1 social media site itself: Facebook.
It’s almost surprising that Facebook has only recently jumped onto the online dating bandwagon, considering that the site’s disputed predecessor, Facemash, vaguely resembled that of today’s dating platforms. Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard University student at the time, created Facemash in 2003.
The website, designed to compare photos of two students at a time, allowed users to decide “who’s hotter”. Though the site received plenty of attention, it was immediately shut down. This did not discourage Zuckerberg, however, as he quickly went on to develop TheFacebook, which eventually evolved into the Facebook we now know and love (or hate) (Hall, 2019).
Facebook’s popularity grew exponentially since its debut in 2004, and by 2009 it was the most popular social media site in the world. The site was used extensively in colleges and universities as a way for students to connect with one another, eventually expanding to include high school networks as well. By 2006, anyone age 13 or older could join. Facebook’s user-friendly platform made it easy to post and share pictures and videos, join groups, plan events, promote businesses, and build profiles limited only to the user’s imagination. Now, riding on its long-term popularity as a site centered around connectivity, Facebook has taken its platform one step further by integrating its newest feature: Facebook Dating.
A test version of Facebook Dating was first launched in Colombia in 2018, followed by Canada, Thailand, Argentina, and Mexico. On April 30th, 2019, Facebook announced that they would be expanding the feature to “14 new countries: Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guyana, and Suriname” (Day 1 of F8 2019: Building New Products and Features for a Privacy-Focused Social Platform, 2019). Then finally, on September 5th, 2019, Facebook Dating launched in the United States.
The feature, as its slogan claims, allows users to “find love through what [they] like” (Sharp, 2019). Although integrated into the main Facebook platform, users must “opt in” in order to use Facebook Dating. From there, they can create a dating profile that includes their name, gender, occupation, photos, etc., much like a typical dating app. Potential matches are then “suggested based on [their] preferences, interests and other things [they] do on Facebook” (Sharp, 2019).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Right off the bat, Facebook Dating’s most obvious strength is the sheer number of Facebook users already present. With over 2.41 billion active users, Facebook is easily the most popular social platform to date (Clement, 2019). This, coupled with the fact that Facebook is a social media site at its core, gives Facebook Dating an incredible edge over other competing dating services. Rather than needing to install an entirely different app to access online dating, existing Facebook users simply have to opt into the service to get started. And, because all Facebook Dating profiles are already connected to existing Facebook profiles, the algorithm in charge of suggesting potential matches has more information to work with, thus making the process to get started much faster and offering more accurate results.
Facebook Dating also offers the option to integrate Instagram, another social networking service that was acquired by Facebook in 2012 (Company Info, n.d). Although the option to integrate Instagram isn’t completely unique to Facebook Dating, what makes it special is its “Secret Crush” feature. By default, Facebook Dating will not match users with their Facebook Friends unless they have a “crush” on them. In this case, users can use “Secret Crush” to anonymously list up to nine people they’re interested in. If a user’s crush also adds them to their “Secret Crush” list, then both users will be notified of each other (Sharp, 2019). This feature is presumably an attempt to reduce the awkward likelihood of a user matching with their friends.
Weaknesses
As popular and successful as Facebook has been, the site is not without its flaws. Arguably Facebook Dating’s biggest weakness, is Facebook’s poor reputation when it comes to user privacy. Facebook has been involved in a handful of privacy scandals in recent years, one of which very significantly involved the political strategy firm Cambridge Analytica (Granville, 2018). The firm had gained access to 50 million Facebook profiles while working on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which could then be used to create more effective political advertisements targeted to specific users by examining their “personality, motives, lifestyles, and attitudes and opinions” (Tuten & Solomon, 2018, p. 41), a marketing tactic known as psychographic segmentation. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first instance of Facebook violating the privacy of its users, and it’s likely not the last.
Distribution of Facebook users in the United States as of August 2019, by age group 
Distribution of Instagram users worldwide as of July 2019, by age group
Another weakness of Facebook Dating is Facebook’s demographic. When Facebook was in its early stages of development, it was primarily used by college and high school students. However, over the years, younger generations have turned to social media sites and apps like Instagram instead of Facebook, leaving behind mostly middle-aged users. That being said, the fact that Facebook Dating offers the opportunity to integrate Instagram profiles, might be enough to attract younger users back to the platform.
Opportunities
Although Facebook has its obvious weaknesses, Facebook Dating has the potential to address them, and possibly improve the platform to grow past its damaged reputation. For instance, as a result of the repeated privacy scandals, Facebook has been desperately trying to convince the public that they’ve improved the security of their services. The efforts to convince the public of the newly bolstered security led to the article at the forefront of the launch of Facebook Dating, which that “Safety, security and privacy are at the forefront of this product” (Sharp, 2019). As an effort to further enhance user safety, Facebook Dating users are also given the ability to block or report anyone, and are prohibited from sending pictures, videos, money, or links. This text-only form of messaging sets Facebook Dating apart from its competitors such as Bumble and Grindr, which do allow photo-messaging. These efforts to protect user privacy and safety may in turn make Facebook Dating more appealing to individuals that have avoided online dating because they felt unsafe.
As mentioned earlier, Facebook’s users are primarily middle-aged, which provides Facebook Dating with two possibilities. The first possibility is to fill the void of middle-aged online dating services. Older individuals may not feel comfortable making profiles on dating sites that cater to and are predominantly filled with younger users. However, Facebook Dating would allow middle-aged users to connect with people their own age on a site they are already able to comfortably navigate.
The second possibility is to draw younger generations back to the platform by use of the Facebook Dating feature. The option to integrate Instagram into Facebook Dating makes the site more enticing, since Instagram caters to younger demographics than Facebook does. Additionally, the “Secret Crush” feature serves as a tempting incentive that is exclusive to Facebook Dating.
Threats
Despite these promising opportunities, there are still many threats that Facebook Dating must face. The most significant threat is simply the number of dating services that are already well-established on the market, each with their own niche attractions. Match.com and eHarmony have been around for almost two decades, Tinder introduced the concept of “swiping”, Bumble requires female users to make the first move, Grindr is geared toward the LGBTQ+ community, and so on. All these choices create plenty of competition for Facebook Dating, and it will only get worse as new services continue to join the already saturated market of online dating.
Furthermore, due to its history of privacy scandals, the public is already wary of Facebook and its services. Should another scandal involving Facebook Dating occur, Facebook’s reputation will only get worse. This could ultimately lead to Facebook’s downfall even beyond Facebook Dating, though that is the worst-case-scenario.
The Launch
The launch of Facebook Dating was rather short-lived. Facebook’s product manager, Nathan Sharp, announced the campaign through an event for the launch, and this Facebook Newsroom article. The announcement was also accompanied by a short series of tweets on Facebook’s Twitter account, and Facebook Newsroom’s account. The tweets themselves highlighted key features of Facebook Dating, addressed privacy concerns of the service, and provided links to the original article for more information.
Facebook surprisingly did not announce the new feature on Instagram, YouTube, or any other platform that they regularly participate in. In fact, the company has done very little marketing on social media to promote their new dating service, other than release this quick demo video of Facebook Dating on their website.
The Response
Considering that Facebook has 13.6 million followers on Twitter, and Facebook Newsroom has 120.4 thousand, the number of likes and shares on their Facebook Dating launch tweets was markedly low. Currently, the most popular tweet of the series only received 361 likes (not even 1% of their total Twitter following), and the most shared tweet only received 143 retweets. Even Facebook’s most popular part of the launch, the demo video, received just 17,555 views. That’s less than 15% of Facebook’s Newsroom Twitter following.
Despite those poor figures and Facebook’s lack of social media marketing for Facebook Dating, the launch sparked plenty of chatter online, specifically on Twitter. Most of the responses were quite pessimistic—and understandably so—about the new dating feature without even trying it beforehand. Users repeatedly referenced or brought up Facebook’s tainted reputation in regard to user privacy. Interestingly, and perhaps as a result of Twitter’s overall atmosphere, the majority of these negative comments were tinged with humor.
One particular tweet brought up an article by Forbes published on the same day as Facebook Dating’s launch in the U.S. The article’s headline? “Unsecured Facebook Databases Leak Data Of 419 Million Users”. News of yet another privacy scandal, which was released just one day before the announcement of Facebook Dating, was not good press for the campaign at hand.
At one point during the campaign, user Conrad Benner (@StreetsDept), created a bit of commotion on Twitter when he shared his distaste for the physical Facebook Dating ads that had been placed on the streets of Philadelphia.
His initial tweet ended up receiving 206 likes (almost ⅔ of the likes that Facebook’s most popular launch tweet received), 32 retweets, and 40 direct comments. As Benner continued expressing his disapproval of the ads, many users began adding their two cents:
“Looks like very removable concrete vinyl. Rip it off!”
– RJ Rushmore (@vandalog) September 17, 2019
“I hate these things—all of them. Like even ones I don’t conceptually hate, I hate this type of marketing. Also, what marketing director or CD approved this terrible creative? Or lack there of.”
– Not Bob Ross (@artistdork) September 17th, 2019
“As if there’s not enough trash on the sidewalks in this city.”
– balancedDonna (@balancedDonna) September 18th, 2019
Benner’s tweets, as well as their responses, quickly gained the attention of Stephanie Farr, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as Claire Sasko and the Philadelphia magazine.
At first glance, this event may seem irrelevant to the Facebook Dating campaign, since the ads that the Philadelphia residents deemed a nuisance weren’t even on social media—they were on a sidewalk! Interestingly enough, these physical ads ultimately didend up on the Internet, and on social media specifically, without any effort from Facebook.
Though the announcement of Facebook Dating generated plenty of resentment, other groups had a positive reaction. Several verified figures, online magazines, and media outlets highlighted and even promoted the feature on Twitter. Users like The Verge, WIRED, and Forbes provided links to their own articles. Others, like social media commenter and consultant Matt Navarra, and reporter Ryan Broderick, provided basic information about Facebook Dating as they received it.
Sarah Hyland and her fiancé Adam Wells were two notable proponents of Facebook Dating. The decision to include the couple in the campaign’s launch appears intentional, seeing as the two got engaged just two months prior, and their first interactions with one another occurred on social media. Hyland and Wells both endorsed Facebook Dating on Twitter the day after the launch. Their tweets received mixed responses, with some users praising the couple, and others questioning the motive behind the endorsement.
Even though Facebook didn’t promote the launch of Facebook Dating on their Instagram page, Sarah Hyland and Adam Wells’ Instagram posts were enough to get people talking. In fact, their posts were among the most popular #facebookdating posts on the platform. Hyland’s post raked in a whopping 156,951 likes, and Wells’ received 47,897–among the most likes on any one post related to Facebook Dating across all platforms.
Other popular Instagram posts about Facebook Dating included one “dating expert”, highlighting the pros and cons of the dating service, which received 563 likes and a few comments from interested users. Another post simply announced the launch and received 1,100 likes. One post made use of the visual aspect of Instagram and shared a meme with a caption asking users how they felt about Facebook Dating. The responses were strikingly different from those on Twitter; users began sharing their genuine opinions about online dating, and some even offered their ideas for an ideal dating service. If Facebook is monitoring these mentions closely, they could use these valuable opinions to refine Facebook Dating, and possibly attract more users.
Though some may argue that Reddit is more of a forum rather than social media, unfiltered opinions are the crux of the site, making it an important source for gathering the genuine thoughts of individuals toward Facebook Dating. While users on Twitter and Instagram generally demonstrated little to no enthusiasm for the dating service, Reddit offered a different set of opinions: the users actually wanted to use Facebook Dating. Granted, there were still a few posts with headlines like “it sucks”, but for the most part, users were genuinely interested in the service, they were just struggling to use it.
Similar Campaigns
After taking a closer look at the different dating apps that are available, it is clear that each service provides slightly different approaches to online dating. Many of these dating sites have had their own campaigns, each of them as unique as the platforms themselves. For instance, Tinder, the first to introduce “swiping”, launched a “Single, Not Sorry” campaign in partnership with Wieden+Kennedy, an American advertising agency. The campaign was “an unapologetic celebration of being single” (Tinder: Single, Not Sorry, n.d.). It featured stories and blog posts that catered toward single individuals, encouraging them to celebrate and make the most of single life. This campaign is a prime example of a brand taking notice of an underrepresented demographic, and finding ways to include them in their product.
Bumble did something similar with their “In Her Court” campaign. For this campaign, Bumble—known for its female-friendly interface—recruited Serena Williams as their Global Advisor. Together they created an ad featuring Williams on a tennis court, encouraging young women to make the first move. This feminist message is exactly in line with Bumble’s overall goal: to give women a voice in online dating.
Hinge, a dating service that also uses data from Facebook, recently launched their “Designed to Be Deleted” campaign, just one month before the announcement of Facebook Dating. With the campaign came the debut of “Hingie”, the app’s new brand mascot. The campaign consisted of two 30-second ads of couples getting together, and Hingie being killed or injured as a result. The dating site’s slogan and brand mascot (ironically) brought the app to life by giving it some personality and appealing to its user’s emotions.
After reviewing these different campaigns and the tactics used within them, it’s safe to say that Facebook could have done a lot more to promote their dating service. Facebook could take something from each of these brand’s campaigns. From Tinder: the importance of including those that aren’t commonly represented within a dating app. From Bumble: the importance of having explicit values and following through with them. And from Hinge: the importance of developing a brand’s personality and using humor to make that brand more likeable.
Final Thoughts
Was Facebook Dating successful? With a company as large and unpredictable as Facebook, it’s too early to make a definitive judgement. But, as of this moment, Facebook Dating appears to have been a flop. It doesn’t help that Facebook put very little effort into marketing their new feature on social media, though this brings up a good point: Facebook is a social media site itself, so it’s not entirely surprising that their marketing tactics differ from brands that are solely a dating service. That being said, this campaign has been an excellent example of the power of social media. As a well-established brand, Facebook did not have to do much to get the Internet talking about their dating service. Chatter from fans, critics, and everyone in between was all Facebook Dating needed to let the world know it was on the market.
References
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Day 1 of F8 2019: Building New Products and Features for a Privacy-Focused Social Platform. (2019, April 30). Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2019/04/f8-2019-day-1/.
Facebook Dating Demo. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.facebook.com/facebook/videos/2172991852806859/.
Farr, S. (2019, September 19). Facebook ads have appeared on sidewalks across Philly. The city does not like them. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia/facebook-dating-ads-sidewalks-philadelphia-20190919.html.
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In Her Court. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://thebeehive.bumble.com/serena-williams-in-her-court.
Matthews, H. (2018, May 14). “The History of Online Dating” – (A Timeline From Paper Ads to Websites). Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/history-of-online-dating.
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Sasko, C. (2019, September 19). Philly to Facebook: Get Your Dating Ads Off of Our Sidewalks. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.phillymag.com/news/2019/09/19/facebook-sidewalk-ads/.
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