Facebook Dating Could Be On The Horizon Thanks To Graph Search

Facebook dating is already an unofficial thing, with swingles on the site meeting and making connections in various ways — but the process is about to get a shot in the arm thanks to new Graph Search features.

Before, users were able to meet fortuitously — say, on another friend’s status, or through mutual friends — but now the search for love on Facebook has gotten supercharged, and the social network could be the next big thing in dating. (In other words, watch out, subscription services.)

Graph Search will certainly enable Facebook dating by enabling users to sort for singles among “friends of friends,” an extended network of thousands upon thousands of people who may have bumped into a guy at a concert you also bumped into at a concert. But hey, similar tastes in music!

Tom Stocky, Facebook director of product management, tells USAToday:

“For dating queries, friends of friends tends to be a good place to start.”

In other words, you just got 356 wingmen. Use them.

You can narrow it down by women who like air hockey, or even men, who like air hockey. Maybe you’re into Lebanese fare or knitting or spontaneous hip hop parties in the rec room at 5AM, all of which are searchable through Graph Search — your perfect dude or chick could be waiting at the end of the right string of search terms. Booleanyah!

Neil Strauss, one of those tiresome pickup misogynists, chose to frame the feature in cliched terms of female resentment and male lechery, which, ugh. If it’s out of your scope of imagination a woman might be interested in what you have to say (unless it’s “babieeee u fine,” which interests -0.91% of women) or that fellas might enjoy a PM from a friendly girl who digs The Decemberists, you may agree with Strauss:

“Without a doubt men will be taking advantage of this and without a doubt women with attractive profile photos will be harassed and irritated … Single, desperate men are among the first to exploit any new technology that will help them in their quest.”

Luckily, some swingles are happy to be alone but would like to meet a funky fresh friend-then-more, where Facebook Graph could find your next lov-ah. As of now, Graph Search and the next love of your life are in beta rollout, so if you’re one of the lucky users, please report back about how it works in real life.

Would you use Facebook to mack on friends of friends with Graph Search?