Tinder is coming for your social life, and the first step is letting you Tinder as a friend group

Tinder has already taken control of many people's dating lives, and now it's coming for the rest of your social life.

On Thursday, Tinder released a feature called "Tinder Social," designed to help you and your friend group match with other friend groups before you go out on the town.

Here's how it works:

• First, you select your group of friends. You can only be in one group of two to four people and it will expire after the night is over. You can put a "status" that shows what you are doing that night.
• Then all members of the group will be able to swipe "yes" or "no" on another group, much like normal Tinder. If one person in both groups says "yes," you match.
• Once you match, a group chat opens, where you can discuss what you're doing that evening, or really anything you want.
• Then, presumably, you meet up.
• This process restarts every day: after the night is over, the groups and the chats disappear.

While the concept might sound like it's meant for arranging group dates, Tinder CEO Sean Rad says it's more akin to setting up an informal house party wherever you happen to be. You can match and chat with as many groups as you want. There doesn't have to be a rigid plan.

This is actually a piece of the feature that has changed substantially since Tinder did the beta test in Australia. Around the Australian launch, Rad said they pitched it more as a way to plan a group date for later that week. But once you get a bunch of people involved in scheduling, it can sap the fun out of it.

That's why Tinder refocused it to, "What are you doing tonight?" That's the big use case, according to Rad. Picture this: You're sitting at your desk in the afternoon on Friday. You know you want to go out with a few friends, but have no firm plans. You would definitely like to meet up with a wider circle, one that includes potential romantic interests, but you just didn't get it together to plan anything, even nebulously.

Some people, and groups of people, are really good at turning that situation into a spontaneously fun night. You meet a group of strangers, you have a blast, and you make some new friends. But not everyone is good at non-creepily engaging a group of strangers at a bar. Tinder Social is for them.

With Tinder Social, you could match with a few groups, see what they are up to, and let each other know your general plan for the night. Maybe you'll meet up, maybe you won't. But if you end up in the same place, you'll have already worked to slightly break the ice (or you're most talkative friend in the group chat will have). You won't be approaching a random group of strangers.

Rad says Tinder Social is just one of many features Tinder will be rolling out in the coming months, designed to help Tinder become the "platform" you use to plan your social life. Tinder said, for years, that it is more than just a dating app. Tinder Social and features like it will be Tinder's chance to prove it.

You can activate Tinder Social by opting in on your Tinder app.

Here is a short walkthrough of how the new feature works: