Product Management interview question [Product Design]: How would you design Facebook Dating from 0 to 1?

credits — unsplash

Clarify Scope -

• Integrate dating in the current Facebook application or is it a new application by Facebook?
• Is it web based or app based?
• Does this have all the Facebook data for users?
• Or do the users have to create new accounts from scratch?

Goals -

The goal is to create a dating app by Facebook, and integrate it within the Facebook app itself. It is available on the web as well as an app. It can use Facebook’s data and services. Users do not need to create new profiles from scratch. They just have to sign-up to Facebook dating from the application.

User Journey -

Users open the Facebook app, they sign-up using their email id/phone numbers. Facebook has a dating option, where users need to sign-up to dating. Users see a ‘Dating’ button in the apps. On clicking the button the users are redirected to Facebook dating where they can connect with their potential dates.

Pain Points -

1. Traditional apps allow choosing dates on the basis of pictures, and a 5–6 lines description rather than similarity in taste.
2. Difficult to break ice with completely new people if they get matched.
3. Difficult to find people with shared interests.
4. Security of users — fake profiles, catfishing, identity theft.
5. Physical meetings are not possible in Covid times.
6. Picking up the best places for a date.
7. Staying in touch beyond a dating app and simultaneously worrying about the safety of personal details (such as phone number/ email id). Being a touch beyond a dating app becomes difficult. No one opens dating apps like WhatsApp to chat with each other. But on the other hand it is difficult to share one’s phone number or email id with each other.

Solutions:

1. Leveraging existing data from Facebook to let people match with their school crushes, College crushes etc. and this can act as a great ice breaker as users have already shared a lot of information on their profiles.
2. Use Facebook’s current feature of tagging on posts, sharing them in DMs, sharing videos, inviting in a group.
3. Make use of Facebook and Instagram integration to share Instagram memes and videos and posts across Facebook Dating without revealing Instagram IDs for security reasons.
4. Take advantage of Facebook’s supreme AI to identify duplicate and fake emails to not let users create multiple accounts.
5. Verify accounts by asking for a government approved id card.
6. Implement Facebook’s profile picture guard like feature to not let users download or screenshot images from other user accounts.
7. Extend Facebook Dating to Oculus and have VR dates to make them feel as real as possible.
8. Add a feature on Facebook Watch to let two people who matched watch videos/live streams together.
9. Extend this functionality to Instagram Reels and IGTV.
10. A Metaverse feature in Facebook Dating to have virtual dates in the Metaverse, if not possible in the real world due to distance and covid.
11. Leverage the power of Messenger to let users watch movies and videos while on a video call to create an environment of a virtual date.
12. Embed Instagram inside the dating platform to let users share pictures with their dates without compromising their identity.
13. Leverage the power of WhatsApp where the users are connected beyond a dating app but without compromising their personal details like email id or phone number. Users are given usernames, which are mapped to their phone numbers internally. Other users don’t need to know one’s phone number to stay in touch, using underlying WhatsApp technology.

Prioritize -

Success Metrics -

Daily Active Users

Weekly Active Users

Monthly Active Users

Number of Facebook users who signed up for Dating

Daily time spent on Facebook Dating.

Summary -

We designed Facebook for dating, understanding the pain points of the users with current dating apps and solutions for these, prioritized them and discussed some success metrics for the same.