Facebook users can now expect to get date requests from strangers

A new breed of dating website has entered the business with half a million dollars of financial backing and a radical approach that will leave you either intrigued or more than a little weirded out. According to Tech Crunch the site will allow users of the facebook application to find you based on your facebook interests, spotify history, netflix and even amazon data. Even if you haven’t installed the application yourself.

I’ll be interested to see how people feel about this. I’ve got a feeling people will find it too strange to be contacted out of the blue on facebook by strangers but the option to ask mutual friends for an introduction sounds like it could be more socially viable. I imagine the sharing of our data without our consent is something that is going to leave a lot of people very upset but this may prove not to impact on the success of the new venture because I’m sure the prospect of a date invitation from an attractive stranger will be too much of a lure for most to turn down on principle. It certainly seems that a growing majority of people no longer have qualms about sharing their personal information on Facebook. When it comes to the use of our data, the application will have access to nothing that isn’t public data anyway and that says a lot about the current state of our privacy.

The world's largest dating website's profile data suggests that women who like rough sex also tend to appreciate good grammar. Another good example that correlation ≠ causation.

As the graphic above demonstrates this certainly isn’t the first time a dating website has matched users based on their interests but this is the first time this is being done on Facebook without the date’s consent. Perhaps soon we’ll be discussing the effect of the Facebook filter bubble in the same terms as the Google filter bubble. On the other hand you now have another reason to “like” Neurobonkers on facebook, what single person wouldn’t want to meet a fellow sceptical, science loving, critically minded partner?

Alternately, if you’d rather follow in private I recommend using Google reader or you can receive updates via email.

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