Tinder will swear up and down that it’s a “social” app, despite the fact that nobody talks about the really interesting conversational partner they found swiping right. And it’s going to attempt to prove that, by making picking who you hang out with a group activity.
Tinder is currently testing “Tinder Social” in Australia, where a group of Tinder users can get together in a group, and find another group to hang out with. You know, go to the movies, take a hike, all sorts of group activities you do with total strangers on the Internet. Leaving aside for a moment the litany of obvious jokes that come from an app primarily used for hooking up adding a “group” feature, you do have to wonder who, precisely, would use this feature for its intended purpose. Is anybody really campaigning to turn blind dating into a team sport? How would you even score it, beyond the obvious?
Still, this might have a purpose. Not unreasonably, some people are more comfortable meeting people they know from the Internet in the company of friends, or at least at a restaurant that will bail them out. If you’re not comfortable putting yourself out there solo, appointing a buddy to help you out and clearing that buddy with said Internet stranger might be a useful tool for the worried, the socially anxious, and others who might find Tinder appealing but scary at the same time. That said, we won’t be surprised if perhaps this feature is changed before it arrives to a wider audience.
Of course, they also made the feature automatic; you’ll need to opt out if you don’t want to be added to groups. So keep an eye out for when Tinder Social debuts, or you might wind up pioneering a new team sport.
(via Gizmodo)
