On November 1, a group of recent Yale alums used a Yale Fraternity’s Halloween party to launch the new “event-sharing application” Huddlr. According to the app’s website, Huddlr allows a user to “see the relevant events around [her] and know when friends are there in real time.” The app has an additional friend component, so before attending a party, students can see whom they know at an event.
For now, only students with a Yale.edu email address can use Huddlr, similarly to the launch of Facebook. The creators hope to expand the app to other colleges across the East Coast in the near future. Many students at Smith have expressed interest in the app, especially because of Smith’s relatively unique social positioning as a member of a consortium.
One group of first-year students said they think Huddlr would be great in the Five College area, especially because like many others, they already use the dating app Tinder for a similar purpose. “Huddlr could eliminate some of the implications that come with going to a party with a person from Tinder,” pointed out one first-year. A sophomore added that the friend feature could save her and her friends from trekking all the way to another campus only to find an awkward party where they know hardly anyone.
Many Smithies have reservations about Huddlr. One sophomore said she thought it seems it would be “better for first-years who don’t have a regular friend group yet.” Others expressed concerns that the type of people advertising the parties might not be the people they wanted to party with.
Although Huddlr is not designed for dating, it faces a similar marketing problem as Tinder and similar apps, in which hesitation about who else is using the app prevents potential users from downloading it. Overcoming this hurdle requires building a large user base- a feat that may prove difficult for a party app that depends on some degree of exclusivity.