Every collegiette has heard about the dating app Tinder—with 50 million users as of March 2015, it’s almost impossible to avoid hearing about it. With minimal effort (literally, you either swipe right or left) you have the opportunity to match with members who could became your new significant other… or that’s the dream, at least. Many competitors have begun to stake their claim in the dating app realm, most of them copying the format of the ever-so-popular Tinder app. However, for those who think that Tinder is a little bit too “mainstream” or “shallow,” About Fruit Inc. has created a similar dating app just for you. It’s calledHyped and it’s receiving a lot of, well, hype.
Hyped is “the app made by Hipsters, for Hipsters,” claims Managing Director Michael Suppo. It’s a location-based swiping app, much like many other dating apps available. However, Hyped is meant to take it one step forward; instead of connecting users looking strictly for love, the app adds a certain business component. Once a user matches with another user, they are allowed to communicate and network: think LinkedIn meets Tinder. It’s the ultimate “Tinder for Business” because it allows for users to make professional connections instead of focusing solely on attraction.
With an interesting concept behind the app, Hyped has the potential to become the hottest new app on the market. The only thing that can stop Hyped from flying to the top of the charts is its marketing; if it’s an app for hipsters, can non-hipsters use it? Will this “app for cool people,” as Suppo states, lose interest because of its target audience? Only time will tell if this business-oriented dating app will become the next best thing, or if it will fight becoming mainstream in true hipster fashion.