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Facebook’s dating app initiative, Sparked, is currently undergoing user tests. Facebook’s in-house team, NPE (New Product Experimentation), has developed this app. The social media giant describes the concept of Sparked as “video dating with friendly people.” Some of its features include no public profiles, no swipes on profiles (as in the case of Tinder), and no direct messaging before the interested individuals set up an appointment with each other.
The Verge was the first to report about this initiative by Facebook. Its report has a direct link to the webpage of the Sparked app, which is now unavailable. The webpage carried the app’s description, which read, “video dating with kind people.” Although the app is following the suit of other dating apps like Bumble, Tinder, Hinge, or more, focusing on online dating, it can be well differentiated from these apps in various aspects like no swipes, no messages, etc. The biggest advantage of the app is that it is free for all users.
Facebook told The Verge that Sparked is an ‘early experiment’ and a work in progress. The NPE is currently conducting a small beta test on it. The description of the app focuses on kindness which is the key to being part of the community. The users must write a quote on what makes them a kind dater to other people when they register on the app. The app says that the responses to the quote will be human-reviewed before users can speed-date. The app facilitates options to date men, women, or non-binary people.
The app’s user interface is still unclear as to how people will find their potential matches when there is no swipe left-right option. Another concern is how Facebook plans to ensure the safety of the app’s users once they sign up for it. People will have to wait for the time when the tech giant formally addresses these questions while launching the app. Speaking of now, the app is not available for download on any app store.
