Hey! VINA

Find me a friend!

By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor

Do you ever scroll through Tinder and wonder: “what if this was for finding meaningful friendships, and not just for random late night hook-ups with sketchy Dairy Queen assistant managers?” Well now there’s Hey! VINA, an app devoted to finding you platonic female friends!

I’m not going to lie, my immediate reaction to this app was the same one I have when I find Tinder present on one of my friends’ phones—I laughed… loudly. I mean, let’s be serious, when you market yourself as the Tinder of female friendship you’re going to have some problems. Tinder in itself has become a social joke, but unfortunately no one told the ad reps this and they seem to assume that Tinder’s notoriety is something to be aspired to. If you’re studying marketing at all, you might want to pocket this little piece of wisdom: fame is not the same thing as infamy.

All jokes aside, when I actually sat down and looked into Hey! VINA’s mission statement, I found that it made a lot more sense than I expected it to. Basically, the app is meant to be used as a means of connecting women within metropolitan areas to avoid the social isolation of relocation, career change, or lifestyle change. To put it into perspective, if you move to a new city, the app can help you find friends, or if you decide to live a healthier lifestyle, the app can help you find likeminded friends that will support you as you support them.

When you think of it that way, an app like this is actually very useful. Being a member of the digital generation, if you can find love online, why not fill out the rest of your social circle with friends too?

I mean, what’s the alternative—go to the nearest Starbucks and actually strike up a conversation with someone? Gross.