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Facebook Finds Fresh Relevance With Its Dating Feature
From swipe right to thumbs up // Illustration by Kate Walker
The most popular dating platform in the US is not Hinge, Tinder, or Bumble… it’s Facebook Dating.
Why It Hits: Meta is trying hard to make Facebook… well… Facebook again — the social networking trendsetter of 2010. And while there’s little evidence that kind of cultural cachet is making a comeback (no matter how much they pay creators), Facebook is seeing renewed interest as a go-to hub for connecting with people locally for specific, real-world purposes.
Behind The Profiles: In six years, Facebook Dating has become the hottest place to find a match online.
The free, ad-supported feature boasts 21 million daily active users — far more than runner-up Hinge’s 15 million.
Facebook head Tom Alison says that its popularity stems from the fact that “you can see who they are, you can see how you’re connected to them, and if you have mutual friends, we make it easy to see where you have mutual interests.”
It’s mostly popular among people over 30, but 1.8 million users in their 20s are on it — and messaging within that cohort has increased 7% year over year.
Additionally, Alison says that hundreds of thousands of Gen Zers are making Dating profiles each month.
Last Message: Dating now joins Marketplace, Groups, and Messenger as major drivers of Facebook usage — especially among young people. All originate from how people were already using the app unofficially — behaviors the company eventually built infrastructure around.
Now, Facebook is giving Dating a boost with greater visibility (a new tab at the bottom of profiles), fresh features (an AI-driven match each week), and more social engagement (letting friends play matchmaker). All that’s missing is the return of the iconic Poke to get a match’s attention.
Next Date: Facebook has essentially become the new classifieds section of your local newspaper — signaling a transition toward being a local utility rather than a social media player.
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Polled and Copy-edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.