Facebook's Testing its Dating Feature But Can it Score in India? Earlier this year, at the F8 Developer Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that they are indeed looking at developing a dating feature.

For long now, we have heard tales of online dating. Be it us or our friends, everyone we know is on one of these apps. Dating apps have found popularity across all ages globally and have managed to gather the attention of all.

Now, there's a new entrant into the dating scene. Having built its dominance in almost every other platform, the social media giant Facebook is set to take over another important part of people's lives – dating. According to reports, Facebook is now testing its dating feature.

Here's all that we know so far about Facebook's new feature

Not Just For Hookups

That Facebook is diving into dating, is not news. Earlier this year, at the F8 Developer Conference, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that they are indeed looking at developing a dating feature. Note, it won't be a standalone app but introduced as a feature within Facebook, however it would be an optional feature for users. At the conference, Zuckerberg had joked that the feature will be for building real, long-term relationships and not just for hookups. He had added that keeping people's privacy and safety in mind, a user's friends won't be able to see their profile and they will be suggested people who are not their friends.

Now, Facebook has begun testing the app within its employees. According to reports, the company has asked its employees to try the feature (of course, it's optional) to test the end-to-end product experience for bugs and confusing UI (user interface).

Will It Be Loved?

The social media giant's popularity can't be denied across the world. But its rising security concerns and data breaches, could also be a hiccup. Facebook as a platform is already mighty popular in India, with over 240 million users in the country.

In the Indian online dating scenario, Tinder has held the top position. India is one of Tinder's fastest growing markets and the largest market in Asia. In an earlier interview with BIZ Experiences India, Taru Kapoor, GM of Tinder India and Match Group, had said, "We have grown rapidly in India in the last few years and are now a part of the culture and lifestyle of modern Indian youth."

Meanwhile, Sachin Bhatia of Truly Madly had said in India, the real market is in smaller towns and cities, which is vastly untouched and that is where the real opportunity is. "It is still a very nascent market where predominantly the penetration is among the urban / semi-urban English speaking audience. The market is driven by a lot of repeat users and installs," he said.

So, when Facebook does open its feature to the public, it will be an exciting journey to check if it can turn its daily users into users of its dating feature as well.