Business case and launch plan for a Facebook dating product

You are a product manager at Meta. Leadership wants to know whether Facebook should move into online dating. Make the strategic case for entering the dating market, then explain how you would carry out the entry. ### Clarifying Questions - Should this be treated as the original decision, made before Facebook offered any dating experience, or as a review of a dating product that already exists? - Is the company's priority engagement and retention on Facebook, a new revenue stream, or defending against the time single members spend in dedicated dating apps? - Which markets are in scope for the first launch: a single country, the US, or a global release? - Are there limits on which data from a member's main Facebook profile the dating product may use for matching? ### Part 1 — Why Facebook should enter Explain what entering the dating market would do for Facebook, what it could offer daters that established dating apps cannot, and what risks could make the move a mistake. ```hint Two halves of the case Keep apart why dating would be good for Facebook and why Facebook would be good at dating. A convincing case needs both, and each risk should be weighed against them. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - The company goals a dating product would serve, tied to Facebook's mission or business - The assets Facebook could bring to dating, and whether daters would actually value them - How attractive the market is and how strong the incumbents are - Privacy, safety and brand risks that argue against entering, ending in a stated recommendation ### Part 2 — How you would execute it Describe how you would bring the product to market: who the first version serves and what it does, how it relates to the main Facebook app, how you would roll it out and learn along the way, whether and how it would make money, and how you would judge success. ```hint Decide what the first launch must prove Before choosing features, name the questions the first launch has to answer and where you could answer them safely, then let those questions set the scope of version one. ``` #### What This Part Should Cover - A first target segment and the core experience built for it - A form-factor choice (a feature inside Facebook or a separate app) with its trade-offs - A phased rollout with explicit criteria for expanding or stopping - Success metrics paired with trust-and-safety and core-product guardrails ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A recommendation that follows from the goals and risks laid out, rather than a conclusion assumed at the start - An execution plan that traces back to the reasons given for entering - Concrete handling of how dating activity relates to a member's friends and main profile - How the plan gets enough active daters in each local area for matching to work ### Follow-up Questions - How would you keep the dating product from making Facebook feel awkward or unsafe for the many members who never opt in? - If the pilot drew many sign-ups but few matches turned into real conversations, what would you look at first? - Would you ever show ads inside the dating experience, and how would you decide?