Facebook debuts their take on the dating app

Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook Dating at F8, Facebook's annual developer conference.

Given that one in three marriages in the US start online and that almost 200 million people on Facebook say they're single on their public profiles, Facebook Dating will supposedly help build long-term relationships and mirror the way people meet in real life, through the experiences they have in common.

Facebook is building this feature for dating and relationships within the Facebook app.

People already use Facebook to meet new people, and Facebook wants to make that experience better.

People will be able to create a dating profile that is separate from their Facebook profile and potential matches will be recommended based on dating preferences, things in common, and mutual friends.

They'll have the option to discover others with similar interests through their Groups or Events.

However, what people do within the dating feature will not be shown to their friends.

Here's how it works at a high level:

• You can set-up a new Dating profile on Facebook, it's separate from your normal Facebook profile and your activity won't be shared with your friends on FB in places like News Feed.
• The Dating profile shows the first name only.
• You won't see any of your existing Facebook friends as potential matches in the Dating space, and your Facebook friends that have opted-in to Dating won't see you.
• You'll have the option to 'unlock' individual events or groups you're a member of to see potential matches. 
• Just like in real life, the more active you are in the communities around you, the more opportunities you'll have to meet awesome people.
• Separate messaging inbox with text-only communications, which means people can't send photos or links when they're chatting for the first time.

Facebook will share more information when the feature begins rolling out later this year.