Launch of a dating feature on Facebook in the United States

Facebook announced Thursday that its function of "online dating" would be launched Thursday in the United States.

In a blog post, the company said it would give people the opportunity to "create meaningful relationships" through common elements, such as interests, events, and groups.

Shares of Match, which runs several popular dating services such as Match.com, plunged more than 5% Thursday morning after Facebook's announcement.

"This removes the job of creating a dating profile and gives you a more authentic look at whoever it is," says the Facebook blog.

Instagram users will also be able to embed their posts directly into their "Facebook Dating" profile and give people the option to add Instagram followers to "Secret Crush" lists. Ultimately, the site will offer users the opportunity to add Facebook and Instagram stories to a dating profile.

Facebook said in its blog post that the dating feature was designed to be "safe, inclusive and optional". Users can report and block other users, and users can not send photos, links, payments, or videos in messages. Users can also share the details of an upcoming date or a live venue with a trusted person on Facebook Messenger if they wish.

Facebook users can choose to enable the dating feature and create a separate dating profile from their main profile if they are 18 or older and only the most recent version of the app is downloaded. Then they will receive suggestions for other users who have also chosen to participate, that it is friends of friends, of people not belonging to their circle of d & # 39; Friends or both. The service will not match users to their friends unless they use the "Secret Crush" feature and both users are on the list of each other. .

Here's how it will work from there: if a user is interested in another user, he can comment on his profile or click on a "I like" button to let him know. If this is not a mutual correspondence, a user can forward the other.

The company announced the dating service in May 2018 at the F8 developer conference.