During an announcement-loaded F8 Developer Conference keynote speech, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a new product coming soon to the company's mobile app: Facebook Dating.

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Zuckerberg described the service as "totally opt-in" and "not for hook-ups," and he stressed that the service will, among other things, consciously not connect people who are already connected on the site as "friends."

The app's features were hinted at with a whirlwind of screens behind the CEO as he described the feature's aim of building "meaningful relationships" on the site. (This followed Zuckerberg telling a personal story about meeting a couple who gestured at their kids and thanked Zuckerberg for making their family happen through Facebook.) Among other things, the app appears to draw heavily from users' existing Facebook profiles, with everything from profile information like job and education information to a fully fledged "pick something from their profile to start a conversation" system.

No timeframe for the dating service's launch has yet been announced.

Facebook has long had a complicated relationship with existing dating apps, as one European user learned when she discovered in 2017 how much data Tinder had compiled about her, both within its app and connected to her Facebook account. That data-sharing issue, amplified by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, has actually driven some companies, particularly the dating app Bumble, to offer clearer paths for users to completely disassociate their Facebook accounts.

Listing image by Facebook