Steeped in the recent Facebook- Cambridge Analytica scam, the social networking giant’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has now come up with a new plan.
Facebook Inc plans to add a dating service Zuckerberg said on Tuesday, marking the first time the world’s largest social media network has actively tried to help people form romantic relationships.
The CEO confirmed that the top priority is privacy in the wake of the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scam.
Zuckerberg told software developers at Facebook’s annual F8 conference that a dating service would be a natural fit for a company that specializes in connecting people online.
“There are 200 million people on Facebook that list themselves as single, so clearly there’s something to do here,” Zuckerberg said.
The feature would be for finding long-term relationships, “not just hook-ups”, he said. It will be optional and will launch soon, he added, without giving a specific day.
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The dating service is being built with privacy in mind so that friends will not be able to see a person’s dating profile, Zuckerberg said.
Under the new feature, users will be able to create a separate “dating” profile not visible to their network of friends, with potential matches recommended based on dating preferences, points in common, and mutual acquaintances.
Zuckerberg did not specify whether the feature would be free of charge, in line with Facebook’s core offer — but the announcement was enough to send shares in the online dating sites tumbling by 17%.
On the other hand, Facebook has announced an upcoming feature called ‘Clear History’ that will allow users to see which apps and websites send the network information, delete the data from their account, and prevent Facebook from storing it.
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To prevent the repeat of Cambridge Analytica scam from repeating, the third-party data that Facebook shares have been limited and further preventive steps are to take place soon.
Another interesting factor is that the Facebook’s Messenger app would soon be able to translate missives in real time, deploying artificial intelligence to enable text conversations between people using different languages.
The feature will launch in the United States with English and Spanish translations of conversations in the Marketplace section of Facebook and will be extended to general Messenger use in coming weeks, the service said in a blog post.
Facebook joins internet giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google in offering artificial-intelligence based translation features — most prominently Google’s Pixel earbuds which promise real-time translation across dozens of languages.
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