Raya: The Tinder of Hollywood
Jul 17, 2018
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to swipe through a Tinder feed comprised only of the upper-echelon of society? Well, now you can. That is, as long as you are able to make it through the Raya app’s convoluted vetting process—it’s supposedly what makes this private, online, membership-based social network different from other dating apps.
Those who are interested in becoming a part of the Raya ecosystem must first submit an application, which includes a referral from a current Raya member, making it extremely difficult to gain admittance.
First launched in March of 2015, the Raya app is an online community aimed towards “people in creative industries”, where members create video slideshows (complete with music of the user’s choice) in hopes of attracting potential friends, those with similar interests and pursuits, and even romantic partners. Members are required to pay a monthly rate of US$7.99 and Raya reserves the right to revoke membership for all its users for any number of community-expectation infractions, including screenshotting anything on the app.
Related: Facebook to launch new dating feature
Nobody truly knows what the Raya admissions committee looks for in an applicant. The only definitive information that Raya has given the public is that the process seems to be highly selective, with some applicants waiting more than a year to be inducted, to no avail. The exclusivity of the Raya population has even lead to alleged sightings of several celebrities on the app, including Demi Lovato, John Mayer, Diplo, Trevor Noah and Amy Schumer.
The fact that members of the app all had to undergo a meticulous admissions process is supposed to influence the way that people interact on the app. There’s meant to be a sense of commonality between members that makes Raya users more inclined to one another. Raya has even recently unveiled a new feature that enables users who have expressed a mutual interest in meeting one another the chance to immediately meet in real life, assisted by GPS tracking.
If you happen to have a friend who is currently a member at Raya, you can begin your application process today through the IOS app. For the rest of us, Tinder will have to suffice for now.
