Facebook to play cupid in dating debut

SAN JOSE, California - Facebook is entering the dating game, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday, planning a service to matchmake millions of people on the world's largest online social network and nudge them into spending more time there.

The service, which Facebook had considered offering for over a decade and will launch soon, could help rebuild its popularity among younger consumers and make people visit the site more often, two key challenges for the business.

"There are 200 million people on Facebook that list themselves as single, so clearly there's something to do here," Zuckerberg told software developers at Facebook's annual F8 conference.

Zuckerberg said Facebook was building the dating service with an emphasis on privacy, a sensitive subject for people who use dating websites and for Facebook as the company reels from a scandal over its handling of personal information.

Zuckerberg also pledged that the company will build its way out of its worst-ever privacy debacle.

For the first time in several weeks, Zuckerberg went before a public audience and didn't apologize for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which a political data-mining firm accessed data from as many as 87 million Facebook accounts for the purpose of influencing elections. Or for a deluge of fake news and alleged Russian election interference.

Instead, Zuckerberg sought to project a "we're all in this together" mood that was markedly different from his demeanor during 10 hours of congressional testimony just a few weeks ago and reiterated that Facebook is investing a lot in security and in strengthening its systems so they can't be exploited.

Dan Goldstein, president of digital marketing agency Page 1 Solutions, said Zuckerberg's speech suggested the company "is getting the message" about privacy.

"Time will tell, but this may help Facebook overcome the shadow of the Cambridge Analytica scandal," he said.

Reuters - Ap

(China Daily 05/03/2018 page12)