The swipe left, swipe right phenomenon of Tinder has inserted itself into almost every other app. One of the latest examples of this mobile trend is Weave, an app that is essentially a Tinder for professional networking.
Users log into the app through their LinkedIn profiles and the app then gives them a list of professionals in their area that are open to face-to-face meetings. Users can then swipe yes or no to meet them in person.
According to Venture Beat, the mobile app just raised $630,000 in seed funding and is currently setting up about 100 in-person meetings per day. Brian Ma, the co-founder of Weave, says that most people use Weave for hiring, fundraising and classic networking. Right now, users swipe "yes" to one in every ten profiles. Ma wants to further develop the networking portion of the app. One strategy he is experimenting with is partnering the app with certain events. The idea is that the app could then be used as a guide to find people at networking events, which are notoriously known for being awkward and hard to navigate.
Ma's "Tinder for networking" concept comes at an interesting time, seeing as more and more people are viewing LinkedIn as an actual outlet for potential romantic discoveries. A recent article in Inc. listed the 6 reasons why LinkedIn is transforming into the newest online dating site. The fact that it has a huge network and offers important background information, are just some of the reasons why the author reasons that LinkedIn may be the next romantic dating site. A new app called LinkedUp is running with this idea. The mobile app uses LinkedIn's profiles to romantically match people based on their profession, connections and GPS proximity. It seems that LinkedIn really has become an irreplaceable social media outlet. From finding a job to finding a mate, the site, with the help of smart apps, is covering a lot of bases.
