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SAN JOSE, USA, May 1 (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will offer a dating service, said the company’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, on Tuesday. This marks the social network's first foray into a growing market, a move that caused a drop in the shares of established companies.
Zuckerberg explained to software developers at Facebook's annual F8 conference that a dating service is a natural option for a company that specializes in connecting people online.
"There are 200 million people on Facebook who identify as single, so there’s clearly something to be done," Zuckerberg said.
The feature is aimed at fostering long-term relationships and "not just connections," he said. It will be optional and will be launched soon, he added, without specifying a date.
The appointment service is being developed with privacy in mind, so friends will not be able to see a person's dating profile, said Zuckerberg.
Concerns over Facebook's handling of privacy have increased since the social network acknowledged in March that the data of millions of users had been improperly collected by the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
A dating service could increase the time people spend on Facebook and be a "big issue" for competitors like Match Group Inc, said James Cordwell, an analyst at Atlantic Equities.
Match, the owner of the popular dating apps Tinder and OkCupid, is considered the "global leader in dating," according to its website. Shares of Match Group fell by more than 23 percent following news about Facebook's service.
Zuckerberg also stated that Facebook was developing a new privacy control called "Clear History" to allow users to delete their browsing history.
Report by David Ingram in San Jose Additional report by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru Edited in Spanish by Javier López de Lérida.
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