EDIT: After more investigating with my friends, we’re starting to believe this was a horrible horrible April Fools Joke. Anyways, continue reading if you want but don’t fall for the prank like this young and impressionable undergraduate student.
As a self-proclaimed Facebook stalker browser, I’m a little shaky about Facebook’s latest move into the social dating world.
The new “Relationships” feature to be released at the F8 conference in a few weeks is facebook’s attempt to capitalizing on the millions of hot and steamy virtual hook-ups, open relationships, and “it’s complicated” status updates that spring up in users news feeds everyday. By molding online matchmaking with social gaming, Facebook hopes to strike gold with its newest endeavor. Here’s a quick run-down of the features of Facebook Relationships from TechCrunch:
- Facebook’s going to size-up your past boyfriends and girlfriends interests and photos and (attempt to) determine the physical features and characters traits you’re attracted to and who might satisfy your assessed desires.
- So then, Facebook will merge profile activity and relationship status updates into a “flirts” section, giving that poke you sent Rico Suave the other day a new meaning.
- My least favorite part- Facebook’s going to allow users to see how often other users have viewed their profiles to see who’s feeling who, etc. (basically I’m going to have to re-do my facebooking habits). Facebook says this will encourage its biggest stalkers to be a little less creepy. Thanks for that, Facebook.
So what made Facebook decide to become my personal matchmaker by throwing out all my dirty laundry? Well, by partnering with Zynga, it hopes to encourage users to interact and flirt through social gaming, or more directly, get its foot in the door in the booming market for games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
So what will users think? No big deal? Just another step in the already disappearing line between public and private lives? Who knows. But boys and girls, for your own information: I’m not on the market, so please choose to flirt and poke at your own risk, who knows, I might just splurge on a $1 facebook teddy bear for ya; I’m pretty generous like that 
Oh no! Will we be able to turn off the feature that tracks profile views? That’s so MySpace…
GREAT post!.
Yech… I wonder what effect this will have on employers? Will they be checking out the mating rituals (online and offline) of their current and prospective employees?