Facebook to add dating service for first time said Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook plans to add a dating service, said CEO, Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, marking the first time the world's largest social media network has actively tried to help people form romantic relationships.

Shares of Match Group, the owner of popular dating app Tinder, fell more than 18 per cent on the news.

Zuckerberg made this known to software developers at Facebook's annual F8 conference that a dating service would be a natural fit for a company that specialises in connecting people online.

There are 200 million people on Facebook that list themselves as single, so clearly there's something to do here, Mr Zuckerberg said.

The feature would be for finding long-term relationships, "not just hook-ups", he said. It will be optional and will launch soon, he added, without giving a specific day.

A prototype displayed on screens at the F8 conference showed a heart shape at the top-right corner of the Facebook app.

Pressing on it will take people to their dating profile if they have set one up. The prototype was built around local, in-person events, allowing people to browse other attendees and send them messages.

Don't you think this will likely increase the time people spend on Facebook and maybe be a "big problem" for competitors such as Match?