When sitting around swapping online dating stories, the discussion typically centers on the usual suspects: Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, Grindr, and sometimes more specialized apps like Lex. However, since Facebook Dating’s launch in 2019, it’s rare to hear success stories starting there — I personally know more individuals who connected in Facebook meme groups than via Facebook Dating itself.
My personal experience might be misleading, as people actually do use Facebook Dating! Meta shared user statistics for the first time on Monday, revealing that Facebook Dating boasts 21.5 million daily active users (DAUs) across 52 countries.
Facebook Dating is integrated within Facebook, not a separate app, and Facebook prominently displays its dating feature in the main bottom navigation bar. (Even if your relationship status is not single, Facebook Dating maintains its visible position.)
The most surprising aspect is how Facebook Dating appears to be gaining traction among younger demographics. The platform reports 1.77 million users aged 18-29 in the U.S., which isn’t quite on par with the “usual suspects,” but it’s getting closer. App analytics firm Sensor Tower estimated that this past summer in the U.S., Tinder had 7.3 million active users across all age groups; Hinge had 4.4 million; Bumble had 3.6 million; and Grindr had 2.2 million.
Facebook has publicly acknowledged its difficulties in retaining Gen Z and young millennials, yet the company noted last year that daily conversations on Facebook Dating within the 18-29 demographic increased by 24%.
Facebook Dating’s standout feature isn’t what it actively offers, but rather, what it doesn’t offer. Unlike Hinge, there’s no need to pay to “unlock” your most desirable matches or purchase premium features supposedly aiding in finding “the one.”
Hinge introduced its “Standouts” feature in December 2020, which has become emblematic of the issues with dating apps. Hinge’s algorithm identifies individuals it believes you’ll be most interested in and places them in a separate, exclusive section of the app. The sole method to swipe right on these individuals involves giving them a “rose,” which users receive for free weekly — unless more roses are bought for $4 each. Even with purchased roses, your potential future partner will know a rose was spent on them, which is somewhat awkward. Thus, in a true tale of woe, some users have created intricate strategies to outsmart Hinge’s algorithm to liberate these individuals from “rose jail.”
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In comparison, Facebook Dating’s free model seems appealing. It’s not that Mark Zuckerberg is a generous cupid — Meta profits significantly from your data collection, negating the need for rose purchases. But as users become more dissatisfied with their regular app usage, Facebook Dating may appear less embarrassing.
