Earlier this week, Zuckerberg presented the dating app Secret Crush. Does it have to do with Facebook Dating? How does it work? All the details
What is Secret Crush and how does it work?
Earlier this week, during the annual Facebook developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the arrival of Secret Crush, a new Facebook Dating feature that had already been made available to a limited audience last year.
Just like Facebook, Secret Crush “loots” information disseminated by users in their daily activity on the platform, suggesting the connection with similar profiles.
New element derives from the possibility for users to find compatibility with at least 9 Facebook friends, even if they do not have the Mark Zuckerberg dating app. Friends are notified of this, and if they reciprocate, both parties are notified and communicated.
It will then be possible to compile a real list of preferences. The selected people will receive an anonymous notification that will make them aware of the presence of a suitor, without indicating their identity.
Without the assent of the courted, the two will never communicate with each other.
What it is and how Secret Crush Works: The new Facebook dating app
How much and if Secret Crush and Facebook Dating in general can be a danger for the online dating market is probably too early to know, at least until the app reaches a wider market.
The application started its testing phase in Canada, Colombia, Thailand and Argentina. Now, in a renewed version, it is available in 14 other countries divided between Asia and South America. In the United States it should take hold already by the end of 2019.
The stadium at the embryonic moment of the new Facebook-branded app is almost certainly the reason why it has not yet threatened Tinder and its parent company, Match.
Tinder, free in its basic version, has built over time a large portion of its earnings thanks to the premium paid version, which allows more options and features to users. Secret Crush, at least in this starting phase, should be completely free.
Parent CEO Match Joey Levin, in a letter to shareholders written last year in the wake of the “threat” Secret Crush, said he was rather indifferent to it, hinting at his words how difficult it is – even for the giant managed by Mark Zuckerberg – tarnishing the huge volume of users built by the company worldwide:
“We are not too interested in what our competitors do, or in the announcements of big companies moving towards online dating; we have tens of millions of people around the world who turn to our brands every day. For Facebook it would simply be a matter of choosing whether to work on a new option to offer to users. For us it is not an option: it is our daily life.”
Secret Crush: Facebook acts as Cupid. And privacy?
How to reconcile Secret Crush with the new privacy-centric Facebook, to put it to Mark Zuckerberg?
The CEO recently announced a revolution in data security, and the approach of a reality in which communication platforms that protect user privacy “will become even more important than today’s open platforms”.
Same thing it reiterated during the two days dedicated to the developers of the platform; which – it must be said – appears ironic, because a focus on privacy seems to be in stark contrast with the desire to manage the romantic life of users.
No hint of clarification on this aspect by the number one of Menlo Park, only the confirmation of the change of course undertaken on the security side by the whole company:
“I realized that many people do not consider us trustworthy on the privacy front, and our will is to change this and start a new chapter for our platforms.”