Facebook’s New Product Experimentation (NPE) team shut down its video speed-dating service ‘sparked’, which has been well-tried for over nine months. The users were informed about the report via email.
The email read, in part, “We started building sparked in late 2020 to help people find love through an experience rooted in kindness. Since then, thanks to regular input and feedback from you, we improved where we could, learned a ton and made connections between people.
Like many good ideas, some take off and others, like sparked, must come to an end.”
As per prior reports, sparked was designed to have a distinct interface unlike other dating apps. The app was sketched, where daters would cycle through a series of short “video dates”. The team had tested the service in several markets, including Chicago. Furthermore the team also hosted several “global” date nights throughout the year. Addition to this, dedicated events for LGBQT users and other demographics were also hosted.
The flow of the app is as follows, at first, the sparked users will have a short video call of four-minute, accompanied with a ten-minute video call date. If all went well, they can also then wish to share their further contact details.
