The dating app industry is seeing a new wave of competition as Meta steps up its efforts to challenge established players like Tinder and Bumble. The tech giant has announced a significant upgrade to Facebook Dating, positioning it as a serious contender in the increasingly crowded online matchmaking space.
On Tuesday, Meta announced a substantial update to Facebook Dating, this time heavily incorporating AI to improve user experience. The update includes two new features: an AI-driven dating assistant and a surprise-match tool named 'Meet Cute.' The objective is to assist users in moving past the repetitive swipe-and-ghost routine and foster more authentic, meaningful interactions.
Meta states that the dating assistant is a chat feature within Facebook Dating designed to offer users personalized assistance. It helps in finding improved matches by considering their interests and preferences. Consider this your virtual companion within Facebook Dating.
The assistant allows users to go beyond traditional traits like height or education, allowing you to enter unique prompts tailored to what you’re looking for.
How it works? As per the company you can type something like this: “Find me a Brooklyn girl in Finance” and the assistant will aid your search.
In addition to matchmaking, the assistant offers date suggestions, assists in refining your profile, and delivers personalized recommendations that surpass typical filters such as height, education, or location.
The rollout starts in the U.S. and Canada, tucked neatly under the Matches tab. For now, it’s limited, but Meta says more regions could follow.
If endless swiping feels exhausting, Meet Cute could be the fix. Meet Cute is a feature that pairs users using a personalized matching algorithm, noting that you can “choose to chat with your match or unmatch to pass on the conversation”.
Each week, this feature delivers an unexpected match to your inbox, selected solely by Meta's algorithm.
Why choose this option? The company described it as "perfect" for individuals who are "weary of swiping and seeking a new, straightforward method to broaden their usual selection of dating prospects."
The company announced that as the feature is introduced, Meet Cute matches will occur weekly, with the possibility of more frequent matches being considered. Additionally, you have the option to disable the feature at any time.
Meta reports that every month, 'hundreds of thousands' of young adults aged 18-29 set up Facebook Dating profiles in the US and Canada. Additionally, the platform has seen a 10 percent increase in matches compared to the previous year.
The timing of Meta's initiative is noteworthy. Last year, Match Group, the company responsible for Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid, entered into a $20 million collaboration with OpenAI to integrate more AI-powered features into dating applications. Even with the investment, Match Group has faced financial difficulties, with its stock decreasing by almost 68% over the past five years.