WASHINGTON — Facebook is good for keeping up with old friends. Dating apps are good for romantic connections. But neither are great for finding new people to just hang out with.
The recently launched free app Me3 puts the connections you make clearly in the friend zone only.
For many people, old friends are states away, and for most people who find themselves in new cities, especially transient-heavy cities such as D.C., making new friends isn’t all that easy.
“The average number of close friendships in the U.S. has been falling for decades, and we’re just not very good at making new friendships,” Me3 founder Julian Ilson told WTOP.
“As we get older, we get busier, we get pickier and we also get lazier when it comes to making new friendships, and most of us quickly shed our old ones [when we move away].”
Me3 uses your responses regarding more than 150 characteristics — including personality, values, lifestyle, goals, interests and more — to find people nearby who might make good friends. Then it groups best matches in what it calls “tribes,” or what it determines are groups of three same-gender, highly compatible users.
There is no thumbing through profiles; the computer makes the suggestions for you.
“The profiles are private, so people can’t see whether you’re on the app or not. And the algorithm itself puts people within tribes, which are the group chats of three people who share lots in common,” Ilson said.
Me3 is up and running in New York City and is currently building its database of members in D.C.
