Facebook testing video speed dating app 'Sparked'

San Francisco, April 13

After Facebook Dating, the social networking platform is now testing a video speed-dating app called Sparked that will first allow 4-minute dates to help users find if they are compatible to each other.

Once you "both have a great time," dates will then be scheduled for a 10-minute duration. 

After that point, Sparked can let the users exchange contact information and stay in touch via Instagram, iMessage, or email, The Verge reported on Tuesday. 

Sparked is developed by the company's in-house NPE (New Product Experimentation) team.

The free-to-use app will offer no public profiles, no swiping and no direct messages (DMs) but a simple video speed-chat. 

During the sign-up process, users need to explain what makes them a kind dater. 

The responses will be "reviewed by a human at Sparked" before you can go on speed dates. 

"Users also have to choose whether they want to date men, women, or nonbinary people, and then are asked if they are open to dating trans people," the report noted. 

In 2019, the company rolled out Facebook Dating in the US, and later to various countries, including the UK. 

The Dating app helps users explore potential romantic relationships within their own extended circle of friends.

Facebook also quietly launched a new app last year, just for couples who can connect to each other intimately like a personal dating app.

Called Tuned, the app allowed couples to share their mood, exchange music via Spotify and create a digital scrapbook. — IANS

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