Tinder Wants You to Hook Up with Groups of People Now

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In what little time you have outside of swiping up to catch a Vaporeon on Pokémon Go, there's a good chance you're still swiping left and right to catch a date/hookup/actual romance on Tinder. But now, the dating app is hoping to win back more of your time -- and swipes -- with a new feature it claims will help you find new friends. Just to hang out with them. 

Tinder announced the new feature, Tinder Social, in a blog post on Thursday, claiming it's an all-new way to help you plan your night out. As seen in the video above, it allows you to invite a group of friends to go out for an activity -- happy hour, a party, group sex -- then swipe left or right to find another group of friends to merge with and join you. Tinder users in the US, UK, and other select countries can "unlock" Tinder Social right now. Here's how the company describes how it works:

"[I]f you want to go out, invite friends to join your group, then swipe and match with other groups nearby who are also going out. Message your matches, see where they’re going, make a plan or just find out where people are headed, meet up and have fun."

Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, interestingly, Tinder explains the group you create for the night expires at noon the next day and the new friends you matched with disappear, so if you end up actually liking any of these people enough to continue being friends IRL, you'll likely have to exchange texts or connect on social media. Hopefully, things don't get too awkward.

Of course, Tinder Social isn't the first service aimed at helping people find new friends, but considering Tinder's massive existing user base, it's safe to assume it'll be pretty popular. There's already a potentially huge use for it: organizing a Pokémon Go outing. Swipe away, people. Swipe away.

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Tony Merevick is Cities News Editor at Thrillist and deleted Tinder more than two and a half years ago. Send news tips to news@thrillist.com and follow him on Twitter @tonymerevick.