[throwaway_law]

>They're selling people a solution to loneliness.

I'll one up you, they are selling hope. Odds are this will be seeded with a bunch of bots, and these lonely people may or maynot get some sense of temporary relief thinking they are interacting privately with someone else, when its really just a bot.

[pavel_lishin]

Oh yeah, you're absolutely right. I don't think they can deliver on what they're promising.

[throwaway_law]

I know its unfair and maybe even disparaging, especially my suggestion they would seed their own thing with bots...but the reality is the social network/SV startup well has been poisoned and so it would be my (our) own fault not to approach these things with a ton of skepticism.

>Today, a new social app is launching. Called Friended...Friended has raised a $500K seed round from investors...

That is what it is all about.

[vannevar]

That business model already exists, in the form of online dating sites:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/25/ftc_match_fake_user...