{"id":23849,"date":"2021-04-14T05:11:29","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T05:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/facebook-tests-video-speed-dating-events-with-sparked.html"},"modified":"2021-04-14T05:11:29","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T05:11:29","slug":"facebook-tests-video-speed-dating-events-with-sparked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/facebook-tests-video-speed-dating-events-with-sparked.html","title":{"rendered":"Facebook tests video speed dating events with \u2018Sparked\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Facebook confirmed it\u2019s testing a video speed-dating app called Sparked, after the app\u2019s website was spotted by The Verge<\/a>. Unlike dating app giants such as Tinder, Sparked users don\u2019t swipe on people they like or direct message others. Instead, they cycle through a series of short video dates during an event to make connections with others. The product itself is being developed by Facebook\u2019s internal RD group, the NPE Team, but had not been officially announced.<\/p>\n

\u201cSparked is an early experiment by New Product Experimentation,\u201d a spokesperson for Facebook\u2019s NPE Team confirmed to TechCrunch. \u201cWe\u2019re exploring how video-first speed dating can help people find love online.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also characterized the app as undergoing a \u201csmall, external beta test\u201d designed to generate insights about how video dating could work, in order to improve people\u2019s experiences with Facebook products. The app is not currently live on app stores, only the web.<\/p>\n

Sparked is, however, preparing to test the experience at a Chicago Date Night event on Wednesday, The Verge\u2019s report noted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Facebook<\/p>\n

During the sign-up process, Sparked tells users to \u201cbe kind,\u201d \u201ckeep this a safe space\u201d and \u201cshow up.\u201d A walkthrough of how the app works explains that participants will meet face to face during a series of four-minute video dates, which they can then follow up with a 10-minute date if all goes well. They can additionally choose to exchange contact info, like phone numbers, emails or Instagram handles.<\/p>\n

Facebook, of course, already offers a dating app product, Facebook Dating.<\/p>\n

That experience, which takes place inside Facebook itself, first launched in 2018<\/a> outside the U.S., and then arrived in the U.S. the following year<\/a>. In the early days of the pandemic, Facebook announced<\/a> it would roll out a sort of virtual dating experience that leveraged Messenger for video chats \u2014 a move that came at a time when many other dating apps in the market also turned to video to serve users under lockdowns. These video experiences could potentially compete with Sparked, unless the new product\u2019s goal is to become another option inside Facebook Dating itself.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Facebook<\/p>\n

Despite the potential reach, Facebook\u2019s success in the dating market is not guaranteed, some analysts have warned<\/a>. People don\u2019t think of Facebook as a place to go meet partners, and the dating product today is still separated from the main Facebook app for privacy purposes. That means it can\u2019t fully leverage Facebook\u2019s network effects to gain traction, as users in this case may not want their friends and family to know about their dating plans.<\/p>\n

Facebook\u2019s competition in dating is fierce, too. Even the pandemic didn\u2019t slow down the dating app giants, like Match Group or newly IPO\u2019d Bumble. Tinder\u2019s direct revenues increased<\/a> 18% year-over-year to $1.4 billion in 2020, Match Group reported, for instance. Direct revenues from the company\u2019s non-Tinder brands collectively increased 16%. And Bumble topped its revenue estimates<\/a> in its first quarter as a public company, pulling in $165.6 million in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image Credits:<\/strong> Facebook<\/p>\n

Facebook, on the other hand, has remained fairly quiet about its dating efforts. Though the company cited over 1.5 billion matches in the 20 countries it\u2019s live, a \u201cmatch\u201d doesn\u2019t indicate a successful pairing \u2014 in fact, that sort of result may not be measured. But it\u2019s early days for the product, which only rolled out to European markets this past fall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NPE Team\u2019s experiment in speed dating could ultimately help to inform Facebook of what sort of new experiences a dating app user may want to use, and how.<\/p>\n

The company didn\u2019t say if or when Sparked would roll out more broadly.<\/p>\n

\n

Running a queer dating startup amid a pandemic and racial justice uprising<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/-u8gtH2zbRQ\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Facebook confirmed it\u2019s testing a video speed-dating app called Sparked, after the app\u2019s website was spotted by The Verge. Unlike dating app giants such as Tinder, Sparked users don\u2019t swipe <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-23849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t