• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

3

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs

1

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

2

Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living

3

Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Tech

Facebook says its dating service is hot—but experts say it’s probably not

By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Danielle Abril
Danielle Abril
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 14, 2020, 8:00 AM ET
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

It may be Valentine’s Day, but Facebook Dating isn’t getting much love.

About two and half years after it first debuted, the social network’s dating service has shown limited signs of progress. Instead, indicators suggest the service may be having difficulty challenging major dating rivals and rolling out in certain countries.

Facebook Dating, which the company first introduced in Colombia in 2018, debuted in the U.S. in September and is currently available in 20 countries. The social network aimed to capitalize on the growing use of online dating, hoping that some of its 2.5 billion users would tap on the match-making tab on its service. And while the company announced Facebook Dating with much fanfare at its F8 developer conference in 2018, it hasn’t provided many details about it since.

“I don’t think we have any specific stats to share on this, but it’s going well,” Mark Zuckerberg said during Facebook’s latest earnings call in January. “I think we’re already one of the top dating services, and we expect to continue growing.”

Facebook declined to make an executive available for an interview with Fortune about its dating service or to answer written questions about it.

Facebook’s entrance into the dating comes as regulators across the globe are cracking down on the company for its mismanagement of user data. Trust in the service has been on the decline after a series of embarrassing failures to protect user data from third parties.

Facebook Dating functions much like other big online dating sites. Users get can scroll through the dating profiles of potential suitors and “like” the ones they want to connect with. Facebook uses its social network to match users to friends of the people within their own networks. It also allows users to create a list of friends who they have secret crushes on. If the other person also adds the admirer to their secret crush, the two are notified.

Facebook Dating recently hit an unexpected roadblock when it tried to expand to Europe. The company had planned to introduce the service there on Feb. 13, according Ireland’s Data Protection Commission. But the commission, concerned about data collection practices for the service, “conducted an inspection” of Facebook’s offices in Dublin on Feb. 10 and “gathered documentation,” according to a statement from the commission on Wednesday. Following the inspection, Facebook postponed its European premiere.  

“It’s really important that we get the launch of Facebook Dating right so we are taking a bit more time to make sure the product is ready for the European market,” the company said in a statement. “We worked carefully to create strong privacy safeguards, and complete the data processing impact assessment ahead of the proposed launch in Europe, which we shared with the IDPC when it was requested.”

Roadblocks aside, Facebook Dating, which caused the online dating market leader Match Group’s stock to drop more than 20% when it was first announced, has had little effect on the dating industry, says Benjamin Black, an analyst for Evercore ISI who covers Match Group. Black says Evercore ISI’s models show little to no change to Match’s numbers in the countries that Facebook Dating has entered. 

“If you asked me two years ago, my fear would’ve been a large competitor moving into the space,” he says about the competition for Match. “Who’s larger than Facebook? But yet it hasn’t affected user or subscriber trends.”

And apparently Match Group agrees. Former CEO Mandy Ginsberg, who announced plans to step down last month, says the company hasn’t seen Facebook Dating impact any of its brands, which in 2019 collectively attracted an average 9.8 million subscribers across services including Tinder, Match.com, Hinge, and OkCupid. “We just haven’t seen it,” she says on a recent earnings call.

And Gary Swidler, Match Group’s chief financial officer who recently also took over the role as chief operating officer, reiterated that sentiment to Fortune at Goldman Sach’s Technology and Internet Conference in San Francisco this week.

“You can’t underestimate them,” he says about Facebook. “But the reality is they’re in 20 countries, and when you look at our numbers, there’s no impact.”

Facebook has some built-in advantages—a large user base, brand familiarity, and a dating service the company said it plans to keep free of cost and ads, says Ali Mogharabi, analyst at Morningstar. And while he says it’s too early to judge the dating service’s traction, he says it’s not one of the businesses that poses a big threat to rivals.

“Facebook is basically trying to provide additional apps and features to maintain all of the users it has,” Mogharabi says. “For that reason, we don’t think it’s going to be aggressively marketing the dating app.”

Though Facebook has not released any numbers about use of its dating service—and third parties can’t track it because it’s an in-app feature—that doesn’t necessarily mean that people aren’t using it, Black says. But Mogharabi and Black point to several other challenges that Facebook has in the dating space.

First, many people are reluctant to trust Facebook with their data, Mogharabi says. And online dating, in particular, involves users revealing sensitive information about themselves. Second, users join Facebook, more often than not, to keep in touch with old friends rather than to find new ones, Black says. So even if Facebook improves the features and experience of its dating service—Black says it still lacks many capabilities that rivals have—users may not want to use the service for dating.

“Generally speaking, folks like to separate their dating life and their social life,” he says. “This is too close for comfort.”

But Black says the biggest giveaway that Facebook’s dating service may not be going as well as the company initially planned is simple: They never talk about it.

“They have endless amount of resources, so it’s not like they’re running out of cash” for the dating service, Black says. “It could be modestly successful with more product iteration, but I don’t think it’s one of the priorities for the company.”

About the Author
By Danielle Abril
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

In this photo illustration, a Microsoft logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intelligence (AI) symbols on the background.
AICFO Daily
Microsoft’s Frontier push aims to turn AI spending into measurable returns
By Sheryl EstradaJuly 6, 2026
2 hours ago
A businesswoman uses a smartphone in modern conference room.
NewslettersFortune Workplace Innovation
The tech attention crisis has hit the workplace. One company thinks AI is the cure
By Kristin StollerJuly 6, 2026
2 hours ago
David Senra smiles in front of a white background
Startups & VentureTerm Sheet
David Senra, your favorite billionaire’s favorite podcaster, has turned down every acquisition offer. Here’s why
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 6, 2026
4 hours ago
katie
CommentaryData centers
Katie McGinty: The energy economy’s biggest waste problem is already inside the system
By Kathleen “Katie” McGintyJuly 6, 2026
4 hours ago
A frame depicting the rogue, artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 from the 1968 film, “2001: A Space Odyssey.” (Courtesy MGM)
NewslettersFortune Tech
The first known ‘agentic ransomware’ has arrived
By Andrew NuscaJuly 6, 2026
4 hours ago
Photo: Kwak Noh-jung, chief executive officer of SK Hynix.
AIMarkets
$29 billion stock offering going live this week will test investor appetite for AI companies 
By Jim EdwardsJuly 6, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
1 day ago
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
2 days ago
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
Law
Egg companies made $1.22 billion in profit off a $6 carton — now they’re buying their way out of a price-fixing case with 53 million donated eggs
By Wyatte Grantham-Philips and The Associated PressJuly 2, 2026
4 days ago
The stock market is about to suffer a 'snapback' and will lose much of this year's gains as 'speculation is hitting extreme levels,' BofA warns
Investing
The stock market is about to suffer a 'snapback' and will lose much of this year's gains as 'speculation is hitting extreme levels,' BofA warns
By Jason MaJuly 5, 2026
18 hours ago
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
AI
Meet the Zillennials: The luckiest micro-generation in the workforce, born between 1993 and 1998
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 3, 2026
3 days ago
Mark Zuckerberg takes business calls on a jet ski wearing his $800 Meta glasses—and insists 'the other person could not tell'
Big Tech
Mark Zuckerberg takes business calls on a jet ski wearing his $800 Meta glasses—and insists 'the other person could not tell'
By Sydney LakeJuly 5, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.