Facebook

It looks like Facebook has decided to get into the online dating business by in part funding the dating site Thread.com. This dating site is unique in a few ways. First of all, it is built on the Facebook platform. This means if you have a Facebook account you can login right away to Thread and once you have given Thread permission to access your Facebook information, you can begin using the dating service. This brings me to the second unique point of Thread, it allows you to meet your friends of friends. Other Facebook dating applications allow you to search for Facebook members who are using the app, not Thread. Thread gives you easy search access to all of your friend's friends. So the first thing you have to do when you join Thread is to get at least a few of your friends to join as well or you will have nobody to search for. On average (if I remember correctly) a typical diehard Facebook member has about 200 friends. This means if you invite 5 of your friends to join Thread (and they accept), you potentially have 1000 singles to search for in your social circle.

I think the idea of searching your friends of friends for a date is smart, as each person is known by someone you already know and who can vouch for them. This virtually eliminates the scammer and fake dating profile problem that plagues other online dating sites.

Thread first launched in early September 2009, so it is not very old. Two weeks into launch they had 4000 registrations and the site continues to grow. The Thread software developers are busy coding new features for the site so expect a number of updates in the near future. Everything on Thread is currently free, including messaging (which is handled by Facebook). They do plan to offer some premium products though. Some potential examples include paying for information to see who has viewed you, find out which of your photos received the most clicks, and virtual gifts. Paying for endorsement badges may also be a possibility which will allow your friends to endorse you as a great match.

The one major thing I would change about Thread is I think they should allow you the option to search for other Thread members as possible matches. I am not saying to search the friends of these members (as I am sure this would violate Facebook privacy terms), but just them. This way members have more access to people who are single. Plus, you would have access to members you can search for right away since you don't have to wait for your friends to approve your Thread invite request.

For more on this story, including an interview with CEO of Thread, Brian Phillips, visit VatorNews. You can also find the Thread.com website here.

For a list of other Facebook dating services, you can checkout our Facebook Dating category.

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart released a report last Thursday regarding a complaint filed last year against Facebook, by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC). The complaint is in regards to privacy and personal information about Facebooks members, in which the report found that Facebook keeps indefinitely, even after an account is closed. This and other privacy shortfalls (including third party access via Facebook Applications to users personal data) will need to be fixed or Facebook may be facing legal troubles.

Facebook released a statement which said that new privacy features are being introduce soon, to remedy any concerns people may have. In 30 days Stoddart will review any actions by Facebook. If she finds that they are not making any progress on her recommendations, then, by using Canadian federal privacy laws under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), she may take the case to the Federal Court of Canada for enforcement.

This potential case may also raise privacy red flags in other countries, which I am sure Facebook does not want.

I bet a few dating sites will also be watching this story closely to see what Facebook does and how the Privacy Commissioner reacts. Most dating sites as far as I know keep users information for a long time as well (see Story).

For more on the story read Yahoo News, and here is the report of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner's findings.

Starting this weekend, Saturday June 13th at 12:01 am EDT Facebook users will be able to choose a username for your profile. What this allows is your identity to be easily seen in your Facebook URL which up to now is just a number, as example:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1234567890

The new look will be similar to how Twitter does it:

http://www.facebook.com/your.username.here

There are several reasons for Facebook adding this new feature, with the main one being to allow for easy identification of a profiles URL. This will also make it easier for search engines like Google to identify and index web pages.

This is a first-come, first-serve basis so if you have a name in mind, I would reserve it early Saturday. Full detail instructions are available here and will also be present on your homepage starting this Saturday. Privacy isn't a concern since your new username will have the same privacy settings as your profile name.

For more information, read the Facebook blog post.

We just talked about live video chat and how it has not gained much ground on social networks a few stories ago. The website, All Facebook, broke the news that video chatting may indeed be coming to Facebook soon. Through surveying the JavaScript files Facebook uses for their website, a user of All Facebook found a number of notification messages which deal with video calling. With text instant messaging already in place on Facebook, it is the next logical step for them to offer a video feature. Plus, video would also then make their suite of communication tools complete.

According to an update in the article it looks like Facebook is indeed testing a video chat feature but have no cuurent plans to launch it for the general public.

For the full story, check out All Facebook.

On Thursday, an unknown number of the over 200 million Facebook users, gave up their passwords to hackers in an email phishing scheme. Hackers initially cracked passwords of a number of Facebook accounts and then, using these accounts, sent emails to the account holders Facebook friends telling them to visit the website. The link in the email actually sent them to another website which was made to look like Facebook. When the friends logged in, they unwittingly gave up their real Facebook username and password. It is thought that the attack was designed to spread SPAM and steal identities. The affected Facebook accounts have now been closed. Apparently Facebook faced a similar attack 2 weeks ago.

Last year a similar attack type of phishing attack happened to Facebook and MySpace users. The difference that time was a virus called Koobface, which users unwittingly downloaded, was used to generate a fake email.

Last month Match.com members faced a similar phishing expedition by hackers when they were sent emails that looked like they came from Match (see Story). The email asked them to log into a fake website to view pictures and a video which required a special video player. This video player was actually a virus.

For the full story, read Reuters.

Facebook announced late last month their new Open Stream API to developers. What this means is, Facebook user information now can be shared with other websites and software. Don't worry, users will still have full control on who can see and use their information. Apparently permissions will work similar to how the current Facebook Application system works.

This is good news for dating sites. It means we will probably see in the coming months or year the ability to transfer over information from Facebook when we create a profile on a dating site. Not all dating sites will do this initially but I bet one or two of the popular ones will test it. Dating profile quality is important for a successful dating site and it does suffer when people join multiple dating services. Who wants to type in the same information over and over? When this happens, less information typically is included in the newer profiles by the single as they grow bored entering the same information again. I am sure online daters would much rather store their profile information and update it in one spot. Facebook has enough members (over 200 million global users) to make them a prime candidate to offer this type of service.

For more on this story, read the Facebook Developers Blog and check out the Online Dating Insider for further insight into how Open Stream may help the dating industry.