Online dating app Tinder will roll out a new feature within the app called Tinder Social, allowing users to match in groups with other groups. The feature, which is being tested in Australia, aims to help groups of friends find more like-minded individuals to hang out with on a given night.
"We've done a really good job facilitating romantic one-on-one connections but we want to power your entire social life," Tinder CEO Sean Rad told CNNMoney.
The feature will be made available in English speaking countries and to use it, users simply recruit platonic Tinder-using friends and fill out their plans for the evening. The app will then match the group with another group with similar goals and both parties can make a set plan.
Users will have to “unlock” the feature within the hookup app to use it and to see who else has unlocked it.
“You have to unlock Tinder Social in order to use it,” writes Tinder on its company blog. “Once you do, you’ll see your friends who’ve also unlocked it (and they’ll see you). Now you can invite those friends to go out and you can all meet some great new people doing the same things you want to do.”
Matches cannot be made in advance, as users can only match for a hangout the night of. This will likely reduce the odds of groups making plans in advance only to flake out last minute. As for single individuals looking for groups to hang out with, that is not currently an option, but Rad told CNNMoney that it may be in the future. Additionally, the Tinder Social match will have an expiration date: at noon the following day, the group match expires and the match will disappear.
"The best nights are the nights when you're out and you socialize with other groups," Rad told CNNMoney. "The whole point of this is to make sure that happens by design."
