Power

World Dispatch: The app-i-fication of friendship

Will dinner with strangers cure our loneliness?

Power

Let’s be friends

Power

World Dispatch: The app-i-fication of friendship

Will dinner with strangers cure our loneliness?

Every Monday through Thursday, The Outline World Dispatch brings you stories about Power, Culture, and the Future. We guarantee you’ll feel smarter and more hydrated.

Much like they do with dating apps, people are experimenting with finding friendships through their phones. Freelance journalist Amanda Palleschi recently signed up for a service called MealTribes, a D.C.-based startup that brings strangers together for a potluck meal, and reported her experience. Was the dinner a friendly gathering or was it, as some reports have described the app, “cashing in on millennials’ obsession with the shared economy”?

Today on the Dispatch, Amanda sits down with our Power editor, Emilie Friedlander, for a behind the scenes look at the making of her story, including the thought process that went into her reporting, and digging more deeply into what it means to look for friendship through algorithms.

Give it a listen, and let us know what you think on Twitter. We’re @OutlineDispatch . If you want to be our friend too, let’s make it happen. We know how to cook.

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