Sparked brings onboard advanced features that will see the Facebook app rival existing giant dating apps like Tinder and Tagged.
Facebook has confirmed that its testing the app that will spice up Facebook dating with new technology where, unlike the existing dating apps, users will have to cycle through a series of short video dates during an event to make connections with others.
“Sparked is an early experiment by New Product Experimentation. We’re exploring how video-first speed dating can help people find love online.” according to Facebook’s internal R&D Group, the NPE Team.
Currently, the app is undergoing a reportedly “small, external beta test” that will analyze insights about how video dating could work to let Facebook improve people’s experiences with Facebook products.
The app is not currently live on app stores, only the web. Sparked will be tested in Chicago today at a date night event. Facebook already offers the Facebook dating app to add on messenger which allows for users to take short videos, there are chances sparked could be an additional feature to enhance the Facebook dating app.
In a walk through of how the app works, TechCrunch reveals that, sparked tells users to be kind , keep this a safe space and show up. Further, the participants will meet face to face during a series of 4-minute video dates which they will follow up with an additional 10-minute video date if the first one is successful. Thereafter, they can choose to exchange contact info to take their dating on to the next level.
Sparked first rolled out in 2018 outside the US and arrived in the US the following year, with the beta testing, its likely to be rolled pout to the rest of the users sooner.
If rolled out fully, sparked would definitely take the world by a storm owing to the short video craze that saw some applications like TikTok rise to popularity in the wee days of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also, it would easily take up on the existing dating apps as they lack real time responses that sparked comes with. Ordinarily, with other apps, you have swipe right and still wait fo the parties to swipe back when they come online however long it may take which makes sparked advantageous on the higher side.