Hire A Friend With The Click Of A Mouse

When you can order a pizza or the latest flick online, then why not a friend? Enter Rent A Friend, an online service that allows users based in the US, Canada and the UK to hire a friend and give them company. Users have to pay $25 a month to access the database of ‘friends’ with pics and profiles. Prices start from $10 an hour but users can negotiate the hourly fee with their chosen friends. Rent A Friend does not want to be associated as an online dating service and advertises itself as a ‘strictly platonic friendship’ website.

And why would you want to rent a friend? Here’s some helpful ideas from their site:

● People who travel to a new city can hire a local to show them around town.
● Someone might want to see a movie or go out to a restaurant but don’t have anyone to go with. They could “Rent a Friend” to go along with them.
● Many Friends on RentAFriend.com have unique talents and skills. They can teach you a new language, tutor you, share a new hobby, art, dance, and much more. It’s also a great way to meet people of different cultures and religions.
● Someone may want a workout partner for the gym. Renting a Friend to help motivate and spot you during your workout. It can also be a lot cheaper than hiring a personal trainer.

Founder Scott Rosenbaum says that Rent A Friend aims to fill the gap in the online market where everyone was offering dating services but no one offered friendship.

Although slightly different in execution, this is similar to the Meet Joe social concierge service featured on Springwise a few weeks back. With the increased ability to easily meet people online through various social software, it’s interesting to note the rise of these more professional friend filtering services.

Rent A Friend

Image by Veer.

Veer has recently relaunched its site, Veer.com, with a simplified, easy to use interface allowing for enhanced and simplified image search. The site, which is a go-to source for creative and affordable stock photography, illustrations, fonts and merchandise, helps people add style to business, marketing, and personal design projects.