Making friends was so much easier when we were younger.
All you really had to do to make friends in grade school was to tell the closest girl that you liked her hair bows. Boom. Instant BFFs.
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It’s not so easy as an adult. Our lives are busier, making it more difficult to meet like-minded people. Plus, adults tend to be a little more closed off and unwilling to branch out in their social circles. The whole thing is super frustrating, especially if you’re trying to meet people in a new city.
Two women are working to change that by taking the technology that powers online dating apps like Tinder and using it to match up women for friendships.
Founders Olivia June Poole and Jen Aprahamian created Hey! VINA as a way to “solve the challenge of making new friends as adult women with a Tinder-style UX (user experience) and a proprietary matching algorithm to suggest potential new friends based on mutual friends, proximity, and quiz data.”
To find matches, you’ll answer a few “yes” or “no” questions — such as: Do you like coffee? Do you like wine? — and then start swiping. When you make a match, the word “Ditto!” pops up, along with the prompt to meet with your match in person.
“We want our users’ new connections to meet offline as soon as possible,” Poole told The Huffington Post, adding that the app then makes suggestions for potential meet-up locations or activities based on your interests. “We’re building our introduction artificial intelligence (AI) to consider both parties’ lifestyle preferences and making suggestions for activities to do.”
More: 8 Friends every woman needs in her life
The point is to help us make a connection with other women, rather than seeing them as competition. The only downside: It’s currently only available in San Francisco. A rollout to New York City is coming, but the rest of the country is to be determined.
“Female friendships are absolutely essential,” Poole told HuffPo. “We hope women find their new best friends, traveling partners, brunch dates, wing girls, mommy friends, workout partners, etc. on the platform.”
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