Tinder more into friendships, not hookups

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As the platform looks to lose its reputation of being core in the modern world, it is now into ‘Mates And Other Advantages’.

The US-dating app, Tinder, has become synonymous with the culture of hookups. A new ad from Thailand, however, aims to smash this picture and place the website as a room where friends can be made.

The 90-second ad named “Friends with other advantages” by Wunderman Thompson Thailand shows people right-swiping each other not to hook up but to play video gaming, skateboarding, board games… Tinder is no longer all about hookups.

Given the way that its competitor Bumble encourages people to meet to date, to network, and to meet friends, it is surprising to see this shift in positioning from Tinder.

Adage cited Thasorn Boonyanate, the executive creative director of the agency, as our aim is to show users of Gen Z just how limitless the possibilities are for the platform, platonic or otherwise, to form substantive relationships. I found that young people have very varied interests in my study, ranging from gaming, surf skating, visiting new restaurants and bars, to fanging over Korean stars.

I instinctively realized that’s what Tinder should be for in 2021, an app that multiplies your love for life by connecting you with new friends who share and extend your interests, true long-term ‘benefits’ friends who are here to stay and can also transform these ties into a romance that is not focused on mere physical attraction. This is the path ahead for Tinder to move beyond conventional dating, we agree.

Sharing applications started in the gay community; Grindr and Scruff, released in 2009 and 2010 respectively, helped single men communicate by looking for other engaged users within a small geographic radius. iPhone-owning individuals of all sexualities might start searching for love, sex, or casual dating with the introduction of Tinder in 2012, and it soon became the most popular dating app on the market.

But in the next year, after Tinder spread to Android phones, then to more than 70 percent of smartphones worldwide, the gigantic revolution in dating culture really began to take hold. Even more, dating applications came online soon afterward.

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