Stupid Patent Of The Month: Facebook Joins The Online Dating Arms Race

Stupid Patent Of The Month: Facebook Joins The Online Dating Arms Race

6 years ago
Anonymous $CLwNLde341

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180525/17575739917/stupid-patent-month-facebook-joins-online-dating-arms-race.shtml

Earlier this month, Facebook announced that it will wedge its way into an already-crowded corner of online commerce. The social networking site plans to use its giant storehouse of personal data to create a dating service, promising to help users find "meaningful relationships," not just "hookups," as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg put it.

It remains to be seen whether Facebook's new service will be a "Tinder-killer" that users flock to, or a flop for a company that's long been beset with privacy concerns. But there's one thing Facebook, its competitors, and its detractors should all be able to agree on. When a new dating service launches, it should rise or fall based on whether it can win the trust of users—not an arbitrary race to the Patent Office.

Stupid Patent Of The Month: Facebook Joins The Online Dating Arms Race

May 29, 2018, 11:16pm UTC
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180525/17575739917/stupid-patent-month-facebook-joins-online-dating-arms-race.shtml > Earlier this month, Facebook announced that it will wedge its way into an already-crowded corner of online commerce. The social networking site plans to use its giant storehouse of personal data to create a dating service, promising to help users find "meaningful relationships," not just "hookups," as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg put it. > It remains to be seen whether Facebook's new service will be a "Tinder-killer" that users flock to, or a flop for a company that's long been beset with privacy concerns. But there's one thing Facebook, its competitors, and its detractors should all be able to agree on. When a new dating service launches, it should rise or fall based on whether it can win the trust of users—not an arbitrary race to the Patent Office.