Coke Tries Facial-Recognition on Facebook: Via Digits - The Wall Street Journal / WSJ .

Coca-Cola wants you to know that Coke Zero is a lot like Coca-Cola Classic. It believes this so strongly that it’s willing to do something unusual to drive the point home, like introducing you to your own doppelganger.

Enter the Facial Profiler. The Profiler is a new Facebook application that lets members upload photos of themselves and match them with a similar-looking Facial Profiler user. The idea is that you can find your mirror image, just the way Coke has found its reflection in Coke Zero.

The app, which launches today, has been soliciting submissions to build a database with enough photos to reach critical mass. Once a photo is uploaded, its features are analyzed and rated. Users can then vote on the results, which the developers hope will improve its ratings over time. The software is based on the same kind of technology used by law-enforcement agencies to locate individuals within large pools of people.

But according to Alex Burnard, a creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the ad firm that worked with Coke, the app was modified so that it won’t give an exact match — so users don’t get paired with more images of themselves.

The Atlanta beverage giant said it’s aware of the potential privacy concerns that a facial-recognition app could raise. It has been working with Facebook for months to ensure the app follows the site’s privacy rules, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman said, pointing out that it only looks at photos from members who have opted in to the app and will remove their photos if they uninstall it.

Facial Profiler users will be able to reach out to their lookalikes through friend requests, but Coke admits it doesn’t quite know how members will use it. Mr. Burnard, who has watched members’ reactions when they find their matches, said it introduces “a new social dynamic” that people haven’t dealt with before.

He wondered, “Are you going to find five of you and start a men’s basketball league?”

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