SWOT Analysis

Though social media itself is still a relatively new phenomenon, the way in which people have been using the Internet to interact with one another is constantly changing in a way that promotes connectivity now more than ever. One part of social media in particular that has been drawing people together in a unique way is online dating.

Online dating is still a fairly new aspect of social media, with the first official dating site, Match, being introduced in 1995, followed by eHarmony in 2000 (Matthews, 2018). Since then, there has been a significant increase in the popularity of dating platforms, as more and more individuals begin relying on the Internet to play their matchmaker. Apps like Tinder and Bumble have been dominating the online dating scene, but one of the latest contributions comes from the #1 social media site itself: Facebook.

It’s almost surprising that Facebook has only recently jumped onto the online dating bandwagon, considering that the site’s disputed predecessor, Facemash, vaguely resembled that of today’s dating platforms. Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard University student at the time, created Facemash in 2003.

The website, designed to compare photos of two students at a time, allowed users to decide “who’s hotter”.