Facebook has announced that it will now be telling your ‘Secret Crush’ that would like to date them when you are afraid to ask them out yourself.
The US social networking giant says Secret Crush is a a new tool which will allow people to tell those who you want to engage in romantic overtures.
If other people say the same about you, there will be a match – and both people will be notified, and you can individually arrange a date or start a relationship.
The tool is part of Facebook Dating which is being rolled out internationally. Countries currently benefiting from the feature include Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guyana, Uruguay, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, and Suriname. No African country has made the list.
The announcement comes as Facebook attempts to move past two years of scandals and crises, from Cambridge Analytica’s misappropriation of tens of millions of users’ data to the social network’s role in spreading hate speech that fuelled genocide in Myanmar or fake news that helped President Donald J. Trump to win the US elections.
“People have told us that they believe there is an opportunity to explore potential romantic relationships within their own extended circle of friends,” it said in its announcement.
When it is enabled, you can select up to nine of their Facebook friends that you want to “express interest in”.
If any of those people have opted into the Facebook Dating feature, they will get a notification saying that someone has a crush on them.
Then, if that person adds you to your list of secret crushes, a match will happen. You’ll then be able to speak to each other about that crush.
Facebook said that if a person isn’t on Dating, hasn’t created a Secret Crush list, or doesn’t add you to it, it will never tell your secret crushes that you have entered your friend into it.
