Facebook's new Graph Search, in limited beta release, extends searches for singles on the network to friends of friends. The new feature, primarily for finding what friends "Like" from music to food and more, is expected to be available more widely over the next few months.
After years of playing a de facto cupid among friends, Facebook is no longer just dipping a toe in the online-dating hot tub. "For dating queries, friends of friends tends to be a good place to start," says Tom Stocky, Facebook director of product management.
Graph Search, a promising advertising bonanza and Google threat, puts people's interests and relationship status only a fingertip away. It offers a speedy way to sort potential mates. Men will be able to hunt for single women who live in their locale and like a particular taco stand, action movies such as The Expendables, and sports teams, for example. Women could search for single men who like the movie Bridget Jones's Diary, a book about knitting and old episodes of Friends.
Graph Search, paired with Facebook's Messenger and Poke apps, will now provide what amounts to a basket of dating tools. Messenger is a way to see people who are online in order to strike up a chat. Poke allows people to send flirtatious messages or photos that expire within a short set time period.
Facebook's Graph Search will help people better reconnect with that special someone they met at a party but only recall a first name and a few other details, the company says.
Nate Elliott, a Forrester analyst who covers Facebook and social marketing, cautions against using Facebook as a dating destination.
"It's a different use case than the online dating sites. When someone is on an online dating site you can be pretty sure they are looking for a date. When somebody list themselves as single on a social network you can't be so sure."
Dating norms, however, have already taken root on Facebook. People have long-perused the photos and postings of members in the game of attraction, says Julie Spira, a digital-dating maven who runs CyberDatingExpert.com.
"It's the world's largest social network, and they could be the world's largest dating network if they want to go there," Spira said.
Nowadays it is common to use Facebook as a vetting process to find somebody who knows a person you might date, or to look for red flags — such as "hate romantic comedy movies" — in written postings.
People already use "Facebook as sort of a research tool to see if they have friends in common, to talk with that person to see if they will vouch for them," said Spira. It is common for new singles back on the dating scene to strike up chats on Facebook Messenger to make a match, she said.