Spark Networks has launched Facelink, a meta-search engine which returns online dating profile results from across all Spark properties.
Facelink reminds me of when I went to Lycos a few years ago to discuss their meta-search engine. I told Lycos that their site was destined to fail (it did) and I’m not straying too far from that message after trying out the current version of Facelink.
Network-based meta-search engines don’t work unless significant marketing dollars are redirected to the search engine from other destinations. The service should also work.
Instead, with Facelink, we are left scratching our heads. The user experience is all over the place, every search result is different, some profiles have photos, some don’t, some photos are hidden, some profiles are inactive, very confusing. Some say I need to create an account to view photos (again), yet the next search result doesn’t show that same massage.
Spark runs “over thirty online dating networks”, then why are there only 20 sites (they are not really networks”) included in the search results?
Search is free, you still have to pay to join the site(s) members belong to that you want to contact. Where is the one-pass where you can belong to all sites for 30 days? They should consider rolling that out as a billing feature.
In what particular circumstances would someone want to see search results across religious sites like JDate and Christian Mingle?
Why can’t I filter results by site? Why aren’t the sites a profile is associated with listed in the search results?
Why does the site look and function like it was built in an afternoon?
What is the concept behind “parametric search” and how is it different from regular dating site search?
It’s not revolutionary by any sense of the term, but I do like the free text, once you get the hang of it, wonder how it stacks up against MatchWords in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. I know, let’s have a shootout (not!)
I searched for women ages 31-25 who use the word “biking” in their profile. Of millions of profiles, only 864 mention the word. That can’t be right, can it?
There are 25 women in Boston who use the word restaurant in their profile? Something is seriously wrong with the search algorithm.
Search results are spotty, the lack of simple geographic filtering is a big problem. Women who mention biking in New Jersey show up before women in the Boston area.
Search results don’t display photos! That’s no good, this isn’t Google, show me some faces, and in gallery view, please. When I click through to profiles, most from JDate. To make matters worse, on some profiles I can read the text of the profile but “Only members can see my photos”.
I click on “Email Me” and am sent to registration page that doesn’t explain that I have to register and pay to become a member, before I can even see her photos. Hello user interface person, did they let you into any meetings?
I click on one more text result and am greeted with a mini-version of the profile of a woman with a great smile. I can see her photo, but then we have the signup page below her profile and the alert “You have exceeded the visitor search limit. Please login or register now to continue searching.”
Talk about a site that needs big Beta tag on the home page. Spark Networks spent a lot of money standardizing on a platform to power all 30+ sites, but the system templates and business logic isn’t future-proofed enough to adapt to a meta-search engine.
There are two types of people who will visit Facelink, those that already belong to a Spark Networks property, and those that don’t. Spark spent zero time differentiating the user experience ad marketing copy for each constituency. Actually, there is no marketing copy explaining what is going on. Click and pray.
Why doesn’t spark give you the option to create an account on Facelink?
Why did they bother to create a separate standalone site? How are they going to promote it?
My grade: C-, Facelink needs a lot of work to be even remotely interesting and useful.
Here’s the Facelink press release.
