The dating app has come with another feature, Tinder Social, which will allow different groups of friends to match other groups to make plans for the day. The launch has received skeptical reviews.

Tinder is known for being the hot-dating-app of the moment. Since its release, the company has announced it has received over 12 billion matches, having an extensive database of users that are constantly swapping right or left. Tinder became viral and even had celebrities, like Hilary Duff, joking around with the app.

Tinder Social gives friend groups the opportunity to find other groups to hang out with or any activity they prefer doing. Image Credit: GoTinder Blog
Tinder Social gives friend groups the opportunity to find other groups to hang out with or any activity they prefer doing. Image Credit: GoTinder Blog

The company that owns Tinder, InterActiveCorp (IAC), also owns the dating site Match.com, the social media service ASK and the news site The Daily Beast. Thanks to the fame Tinder has gained, the company decided to expand.

What is Tinder Social?

Tinder Social is like regular Tinder but for groups. The app maintains its profile creation through Facebook, yet the user will need to choose a group of friends (out of their Facebook friends) to do something for the night.

The team can make a choice between several options, such as going to a concert, out for the evening, partying, road trips, watching a game, down to get drinks, among several others. Each member of the group will start to browse through the app and look for other fun groups with the same interests and in the same location. When a member of each cluster matches each other a conversation opens up.

The thing is, the group chat will expire at midnight that day so users can concentrate on making plans for that say explicitly. Having time to exchange contacts and arrange other hang-out sessions in the future is one of Tinder Social’s goals.

Many have classified the new app as complicated, yet before the launch the company tested a beta trial in Australia having different groups of friends browsing through the application and providing feedback. Previously, the app lets the chat up for days, but Tinder’s CEO Sean Rad explained that the users in the beta trials focused on hanging out that same day and making plans for that night. So the company focused on making the app available for the day.

The mother company is looking to obtain the same response the had with the dating app but expanding its market to the social network. To create friendly relationships between users is still the primary objective of the app, though.

Tinder social can be “unlocked” from the previous app, so users who had the dating application can just “opt in” Tinder Social, and they will be ready to meet new groups of friends. One of the main concerns of current Tinder users is the fact that the Tinder Profile will be available for all Facebook friends when opting in on Tinder Social. Something that many users will like to remain private,

“Everyone’s Tinder profile is essentially out there. In many ways, Tinder profiles are public and we make that clear when you sign up in our Terms of Service. But we learned a lot from the Australian launch and we want it to be an opt-in experience,” said Tinder’s CEO.

Users can choose between activating only Tinder Social and having their Facebook friends find them on the network or enabling both regular and social Tinder. In that case, users will see both social groups and possible dating profiles.

Skepticism on the app

Many Tinder and tech users have been skeptical about the new Tinder, even since the Australia beta trials were announced. Mainly because of how complicated the app sounds to many and how social apps have failed. TechCrunch reports how similar apps in the past have been unable to try to get social groups to have one application to meet and go out. In the past, an app called “TheWhoot” had the same purposes Tinder Social has right now.

Seeking to find groups of friends and their activities for the day or night and having them meet up depending on their tastes or plans for the evening. TheWhoot failed in the process of becoming famous.

Tinder Social could offer its user a safer way to meet people in comparison with the original Tinder app, given that people are safer in groups. Image Credit: PSFK
Tinder Social could offer its user a safer way to meet people in comparison with the original Tinder app, given that people are safer in groups. Image Credit: PSFK

Others criticize Tinder Social for its purposes, despite the company wanting to create a friendly platform for introvert groups, many have stated the app could be used to plan “sex-groups” or related purposes. Because of Tinder’s “hook-up” fame, users are pledging a group meet up, sounds strange coming for a company that specializes in dating and couples meeting up.

When asked about the subject, Tinder’s CEO told the BBC that wasn’t the “niche” the company was looking for. Users, however, are not quite on the same page as the company’s CEO. Tinder Social has launched today in the United States, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India. According to statements made by Tinder’s CEO an upgrade will be available shortly after, offering Tinder Social Pro.

Tinder Pro is already on the market, being a paid option of the social media, which allows users to browse through previously rejected profiles and to find people that are outside of the users’ country.

Source: TechCrunch