“Why can’t we be friends?”

I can’t tell you the amount of times that I have heard my friends say that they have found some of their closest friends on Tinder. Interesting that they seem to have formed these platonic friendships on this app considering Tinder was designed with the purpose of connecting individuals on a romantic level. The reach that this platform provides opens us up to others who we may not have ever met otherwise and because of this it is almost inevitable to make some friends in the process. This may have been Tinders inspiration for partnering up with the company Hey! VINA, a Tinder like app that is catered towards women looking for platonic friendships with other ladies. Hey! VINA allows users to view other women's profiles in the area who have similar passions and hobbies and matches them based on their mutual interest in each other (Hey! How do I.., 2016).

Having been a company operated by only two individuals, Hey! VINAs rapid growth prompted them to reach out to Tinder and form a partnership in order (“Hey! VINA, Tinders got your back”, 2016) “to help them leverage their early success to become a global platform” (“Hey! VINA, Tinders got your back”, 2016). This direct association with Tinder provides them with access to its business strategies, connections and general expertise in running a successful business giving them a competitive advantage and a sense of security. Partnering with Hey! VINA, a growing social networking application,also made sense for Tinder in that it allows them to compete with other dating applications such as BUMBLE that are now introducing a friendship option, without having to create this branch themselves. When looking at their mission statements it is clear that Tinder and Hey! VINA also have similar visions with both companies looking to establish strong connections between individuals (“Hey! VINA, Tinders got your back”, 2016) as well as comparable application functions further validating their decision to collaborate. Whether it be platonic or romantic relationship it is clear that this trend of meeting others online and therefore the Hey! VINA and Tinders partnership are here to stay.