Tinder's Social Feature Reveals Your User Account to Facebook Friends for Group Dates

Tinder recently introduced a new feature called Tinder Social that allows users the opportunity to organize group dates with their Facebook friends on the app; if that doesn’t set off any alarms, keep in mind that the new function not only allows you to see which of your friends use the app, but also allows you to view their profiles. This could be fairly awkward for anyone trying to keep their presence on the app low-key, for myriad reasons. Friends can also add you to groups without your opting-in, putting your profile on full view for members of the group.

There is also some confusion as to the intended use of this feature: Tinder has a reputation as a hook-up app, so at first blush the Social capability would be best-suited for double-, triple- and group-dates; however, the promotional materials that the app provided all point toward it being used for platonic, non-sexual rendezvous. This presents the company with two immediate problems: firstly and most obviously, what’s stopping users from starting a group chat with their Facebook friends directly on Facebook, saving the awkward revelations that are sure to come with reading each others’ dating profiles; and secondly, with the app’s existing culture, this capability seems geared toward organizing orgies.

The initiative has only been rolled out to a select few users in Australia so far, but Tinder have expressed that they want to roll it out globally soon.