Casually
catching up on all the weird and wonderful things the internet has to offer on
one of my favourite topics, human relationships (of any kind), I stumbled upon
a new app called 3nder – the tinder of threesomes.
I have
never blogged about Tinder before really so it might seem strange to make the
jump to 3nder but why wait? Having been the social media app craze of summer
2013 – and I am told it continues to be popular, even if this is just for its
entertainment value – I of course dabbled with the app. It wasn’t on my phone
for very long and I have to say that I do not miss it one bit; the boy will
probably pleased about that!
However,
I do continue to enjoy reading about it and follow a few tumblrs that are
regularly make my week, such as Teach
me how to Tinder, How
to lose a guy in one Tinder, and Twats
on Tinder. Buzzfeeder Myles Tanzer also published a lovely little collection
of hilarious and cringeworthy Tinder stories entitled “10
True Tinder Stories That Will Make You Want To Fall In Love Or Hide Under The
Covers” – in fact, it taught me that men with tigers on Tinder is a
thing, something that I completely missed. Maybe I should have started reading Teach me how to Tinder before I used the
app?!
Anyway,
having previously blogged about “Bang
with Friends” (now renamed DOWN),
there was no way I wasn’t going to blog about 3ndr.
3ndr – tagline “Threesomes made easy” – aims to solve the problem of there
being “too many services targeted at singles” while “services targeted at
couples and swingers are expensive and suspicious.” That is where 3ndr comes
into play! London-based entrepreneur Dimo Trifonov developed the app and says
that he wants 3ndr to be a “simple and elegant app that will try to change the
face of the swinging industry."
You
can join the app as a couple seeking another couple, as a couple seeking a
guest star or for 3 lonely single people looking to having some good old three-way
fun. Easy. Or maybe not? 3ndr says that by “sharing your interests and desires”
it will “connect you with likeminded people” and therefore it is NOT “just
about random sex.” Well that’s good to know!
Threesomes
were, at least according to Sex and the City, the “the blow job of the nineties.”
So they kind of have been a thing in pop culture for a while, really. I
particularly enjoyed when Carrie then goes on to muse about threesomes:
“Was Samantha right? Were
threesomes the new sexual frontier? No question. Guys were infatuated with
threesomes. And when I started looking, they were everywhere. After all, our
lives are built on threesomes. Fat, low-fat, non-fat. First, Business, Economy.
Moe, Larry, Curly. Maybe we were never meant to do it with only one other
person. Maybe threesomes were the relationship of the future.”
3nder
is currently still in the development stage, and it will be interesting to see
whether it has any success. They currently have 255 followers on their twitter,
certainly something to keep an eye on and see where it goes. “Bang with Friends”
(now renamed DOWN), maybe not to too much
surprise, seems to be doing alright for itself with 4215 followers on Twitter
and 21,534 like on Facebook. DOWN CEO Colin Hodge announced in June 2013 that
his app had racked up 1.1 million users in just five months, before being
kicked out of Apple’s iTunes stores in May 2013. You can watch his interview
with Business Insider here.
I am a
big fan of social media and not opposed to internet/app dating in the slightest
– I know way too many people who met online and are in happy, successful and
loving relationships to say anything negative about online dating. In fact,
Tinder’s co-founder Sean Read said in November 2013 that their app has "created
over 150 marriages that we know about.” But 3ndr seems to be getting attention
more because of its ‘controversial content’ rather than anything else. Whether
that may be because threesomes and the swinging community are not something
that is regularly discussed in public or whether it is just because we aren’t quite
ready to talk about, what 3nder termed, “sexual revolution” openly remains to
be seen.
Personally,
I think that the app could be great for people looking for that kind of thing;
I can see how it is filling a “gap in the market” and how it could give a new
digital aspect and outlet to the people already active in the swinging community
or might even introduce someone to it who is just that little bit curious.