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Facebook tests video speed dating app that nixes swipes, DMs

The platform, called Sparked, is a product of Facebook's NPE experimental app team.

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
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Facebook is exploring new territory when it comes to online dating. 

Angela Lang/CNET

Facebook is apparently launching a new video speed dating app called Sparked. The platform, available for sign-up on desktop, requires a Facebook account, but the landing page says there are no public profiles, swiping or "endless" DMs, and that the service is free. The Verge earlier reported the news. 

Sparked is a product of Facebook's experimental app team, New Product Experimentation. A Facebook representative called it "an early experiment" and a small beta test, adding: "We're exploring how video-first speed dating can help people find love online."

According to The Verge, users will go through four-minute speed video dates. If both people "have a great time," they'll be scheduled for a second date that lasts 10 minutes. They'll then be encouraged to share contact information to keep in touch. 

The publication also notes that when signing up, "users have to type out what makes them a kind dater." Those responses are reviewed, and people who are approved can go on video speed dates. 

Sparked is Facebook's latest foray into the online dating space, after having launched Facebook Dating in the US in 2019. That platform works by allowing Facebook users to opt into the service to create a separate Dating profile, and then be suggested to other members based on preferences and interests.