Tinder just launched a new, super-exclusive app (and Emma Watson is on it)
When you think of Tinder, your first thought is “dating app.” That’s the case because well, it is one, but as the app’s been co-opted as everything from a movie promotional tool, a music video promotional tool, getting your snow shoveled (not a euphemism), and a way to get free pizza, it was only a matter of time before Tinder actively broadcasted its easy swipe interface as a network for something else. Now, going a step beyond its celebrity verified profiles, Tinder has teamed up with Forbes for a high-powered app that’s the ultimate networking tool. The big catch: You have to be a current or former inductee on Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list to join and use the app.
Around 2,000 people in all different fields are affiliated with the app, including just a few of our faves like Aziz Ansari, Emma Watson, and Jessica Williams. Those on the 30 Under 30 app, which was developed last year but is being formally launched during this year’s October 30 Under 30 summit, use the popular swiping format to start networking conversations with each other. Think of the Tinder/Forbes app as a sort of digital clubhouse for the brightest young minds in the world, bypassing the typical tangle of publicists, agents, and social media dancing.
Though the external purpose of the app is more LinkedIn than the traditional view of Tinder, the internal interface looks pretty much like Tinder’s — except, of course, for that 30 Under 30 login screen:
Is this the dawn of Tinder spinoffs? Can they have one for platonic friendships only (Friender)? One for people to talk about movies and shows that their friends haven’t seen (Spoiler)? One for animal playdates (Petter)? The terrible puns are endless, but the applications of the easy swipe app interface are as well.
As Tinder co-founder Sean Rad told TechCrunch, “Will this serve be a nice experiment? Sure….We think about meeting people as sort of a general challenge. We don’t want to solve it for just one [form of relationship].” The 30 Under 30 is then, along with being an amazing feature for its lucky and talented users, a trial run for other sorts of post-dating Tinder applications. Hey, if they ever make an app that connects, say, people with leftovers with people who are looking for food, holler at us.
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Meet the 25-year-old woman who made a ‘feminist Tinder’
(Image via Shutterstock.)
