It's often said that romantic partners need to have the endorsement of our friends and family.
But, now, Tinder is taking things up a notch by allowing users' friends and family to suggest possible matches.
With the Tinder Matchmaker feature, users can give others permission to use their accounts and make "likes" for 24 hours.
Tinder has positioned dating as a "group activity", although a dating specialist cautioned that there could be privacy issues.
It is not unusual to talk about swipes or potential matches with companions in the real world, or even to let someone else take over swiping on one's phone for a period.
The Matchmaker feature provides a selection of profiles to a predetermined set of people, chosen by the user, who can scroll through and provide their feedback.
This group will not be able to express approval or disapproval for potential matches, though they may offer advice.
The feature will initially be available in 15 countries, including the UK, the US and Australia, before being extended worldwide in a few months.
Sarah Louise Ryan, a dating expert and matchmaker, expresses her one reservation about the new feature: it enables one person's profile to be distributed digitally amongst multiple people.
This feature allows up to 15 people to view a profile without requiring a Tinder account login.
"My clients rely on me for confidentiality," she stated.
If you are a user of a dating application, you are content to leave a digital trace - but only when matched with other singles.
The concept of [up to 15] strangers looking at your profile without you actually seeing their faces - I'm not sure how to feel about that.
In spite of this, Ms Ryan declared that Tinder ordinarily has a commendable history concerning data privacy.
In 2016, following allegations of collecting private user data without permission, Tinder announced that it would be taking a closer look at its data privacy policies.
In February, an "incognito mode" was released exclusively for paying subscribers, allowing users to only show their profiles to those they have already liked.
Ms Ryan noted that it is a regular practice in a multitude of cultures to play matchmaker for friends and family; as she had worked with Jewish and Sikh clients herself.
"Enlisting help in one's pursuit of love is not a novel idea," she mentioned.
People from the outside might be able to offer a more unbiased opinion regarding possible matches, however the speaker further noted that having too many opinions could "muddle one's decision-making".
In 2017, Hinge, a dating app, introduced a similar feature, however, it has since been shuttered. Since 2019, Hinge has been completely owned by Match Group, the parent company of Tinder.
In the meantime, dating app Bumble has a function wherein individual profiles may be shared with people outside of the app.
Tinder has been asked to provide a comment.
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