Facebook

Less than a year after its debut, Meta is shutting down its virtual speed dating service Sparked as it moves forward with the Audio Dates feature for Facebook Dating.

Meta, the company formerly known as Facebook (name change happened in Oct of 2021), confirmed that Sparked would be shut down on January 20th, according to Tech Crunch. Sparked was developed by Meta’s in-house testing group the NPE Team in the hopes it would drive people to join the Facebook Dating service. 

Sparked sent an email to its users which read:

"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."

WooPlus Facebook Login Issues

Members of dating app WooPlus who use Facebook logins to access their accounts recently got shut out, creating a huge problem the company wasn’t able to address in a timely manner. As a result, WooPlus is considering ditching Facebook altogether from its login options.

Almost 1.5 million members of the popular dating app for curvy people weren’t able to login to their accounts via Facebook, a typical way for dating app platforms to be able to verify members. The company said that Facebook had failed to notify them in advance that they planned to lock out these users and didn’t offer a reasonable explanation for doing so.

Some WooPlus members said that they were forced to set up new accounts without using Facebook to login to the app, but that they weren’t able to access any of their old account information, messages or matches, causing even more frustration. Others said this wasn’t the first time Facebook booted them out.

Facebook Dating has announced a new audio chat feature along with other offerings related to virtual dating, which has soared in popularity since the pandemic began.

According to The Verge, “Audio Dates” allows users start an audio-only conversation after they match. If one user reaches out, the other receives an invitation, and if they accept, they can start chatting.

In addition to Audio Dates, Facebook is launching a feature called Match Anywhere, where a user can add up to two additional locations where they want to look for matches besides where they live. This is similar to Tinder’s Passport which became hugely popular in the wake of the pandemic, especially as people began to move away from the cities where their jobs were located and work virtually. Dating someone who lives in another city, or even another country, no longer seems like a barrier as so many embraced the freedom that comes with remote working. It opened up a lot more opportunities that are still appealing to singles.

Are you wondering how to meet people over Facebook Dating? The easiest method is to focus on your interests and start joining groups through the dating app – you can connect with people who share those interests, and hopefully make a better match.

Facebook Dating offers groups for its users to join once they begin searching, making it a bit easier to find someone compatible with you. There’s no limit to the number of groups you can join, or how specific you want to be in your search. There are also a number of groups that offer tips and dating advice if you feel stuck or want to commiserate. If you want to find like-minded singles you can join niche groups like vegan daters, or if you’re not interested in narrowing your options too much, you can connect with others based on location.

Here are some popular groups that you might want to check out:

Gay dating app Manhunt says that it was hacked in February of this year, and the personal data of a portion of its users was exposed. 

A hacker caused the data breach according to a statement submitted by the company to the Washington State Attorney General. Manhunt maintains that the hacker “downloaded the usernames, email addresses and passwords for a subset of our users in early February 2021,” according to The Advocate. 

Manhunt has over 6 million users, and about 7,700 of its users who reside in Washington had their data stolen according to the statement. In total, the company’s attorney says about 11 percent of Manhunt users were affected by the breach.

Facebook is testing a new virtual speed dating app called Sparked, an alternative to the swiping and messaging process of traditional dating apps.

Facebook describes the app as “video dating with kind people,” setting the tone for its users and to differentiate itself from other apps. The company also says that Sparked does not require its users to set up public profiles, and there’s no swiping or DMs - a departure from traditional dating apps. 

Instead, Sparked will provide a list of virtual speed dating events in different cities that users can join, according to The Verge. Once they do, they will begin the speed dating process and each date will last about four minutes. At the end of each mini-date, Sparked will ask how each person felt about the date. If they both agree that they had a “great time,” they’ll be scheduled for a second, ten-minute date. After the second date, if the couple wants to exchange information to stay in touch, they can do so themselves through Instagram, iMessage or email.