Hangout goes Tinder'active

Even if two’s a company, three is not a crowd. Mark these words when Tinder says so. Tinder Social, the dating app upgrade, has opened a place for group hangouts — not to be mistaken with its hook up feature. Tinder calls this a tool to “ignite social life.” An excerpt from its official blog goes: “Often your best nights are when you’re hanging with friends, someone makes an unexpected connection with someone in another crew, and your two crews have an amazing time together. Maybe you spark a romantic connection. Maybe you make new friends. Either way, a good night out with your friends becomes something better,” it reads. Whether you are in for all-girls party or a boys’ day out, Tinder is there to make it big.

Prior to its multi-national release, a beta version test-launch was done in Australia in April. A lesson learnt from the piloting was that people are more on the lookout for a better night life with friends — a factor that has upped the confidence to spread wings wider. A group can have maximum of four persons. The feature is accessible in five more countries at present; India, the US, the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. The upgradation is looked upon as yet another attempt of Tinder for brand building other than dating.  

Here's how it works: After updating the app, Tinder users can choose to “unlock” Tinder Social to gain access to the feature. To get started, users can create a group by selecting friends who have also chosen to opt-in. Once a group is formed, members can assign a status to their group, choosing from a variety of suggested activities like  “Going to a concert tonight,” “Girl’s night out,” “Comedy Night,” “Sunday Funday” or “Happy Hour, anyone?” Tinder users can toggle Tinder Social ON and OFF by accessing their settings in-app at anytime.

Anyway, history shows a couple of predecessors to Tinder for group dating such as Grouper and Smeeters. Though in terms of mass appeal, they are nowhere near Tinder. Trouble is not restricted to personal front. The threat is hovering over Tinder’s clientele base. There is a high risqué factor that can break relations faster than making it. Users may say bye for ever if they happen to see some ‘trustworthy’ partner mooching around on Tinder after activating the group hangout facility. The gut-wrenching feelings are popping up on the topic Tinder Social on Twitter.