Making friends has never been the sort of thing you can just do with your eyes closed - it's a process that many of us find stressful and challenging, and that's once you even manage to find some new people to hang out with. 

Yubo is a tremendous app that gives young people a whole new way to meet new friends through shared interests and passions, revolutionising the art of finding friends just like apps have done for dating. Here are five reasons why you should consider checking it out for yourself. 

1. Friends not followers

Social media has changed everything about how we inhabit online spaces, as anyone would agree, but not all of the changes have been for the better. Whether it's on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, there are loads of networks that are built around numbers

By that, we mean follower-counts, likes, shares and subscribers - loads of different ways to track the size of your following and compare it to those of others. That's something that Yubo is completely reversing with how it works. There's no follower counting here, or any need to ask for likes and shares. You're here to make friends, not become an influencer, so you can put aside your worries about clout and just concentrate on your interactions with actual people. 

2. Push back against loneliness

After all, not just over the last year but over a wider slice of time, the online world can sometimes feel like a bit of a lonely space. On other social networks even if someone replies to you it's rarely a chance to engage in meaningful contact.

Yubo aims to help push back the spectre of loneliness by promoting actual interactions and experiences rather than just platitudes and comments. There are loads of strong friendships now flourishing after starting on Yubo, and that's no coincidence. 

3. Find shared passions

One of the core ways that you can meet people on Yubo, which really helps forge these bonds, is by interacting with tags and sections that attract you. If you're interested in art, or literature, you can explore those tags and find other people with similar mindsets.

This means that you can start off on an even footing, rather than having to find some shared ground over the course of awkward messaging. Plus, with Yubo's purpose clearly being to help find friends, everyone's got the same shared goal, so there's loads of friendliness going around. 

4. Safety first

Another key to Yubo feeling so relaxing to use is that it's also been built with safety in mind from the very start. For one, the app is aimed at younger people, so you're more likely to find someone at a similar stage in life to you, rather than having to worry about older people muscling into your conversations when they're not wanted. 

Accounts need a photo of the user's face to be set up, discouraging people from acting as if they're anonymous, with systems behind the scenes that flag accounts for review if an AI detects they might be underage. Being a teenager is tough enough without having to worry about your social media apps, so Yubo's proud to be doing things differently. 

5. Time to actually talk

Once you find someone that you're interested in getting to know better, there are loads of ways to do that. You can chat as much as you like, either by text or on calls, but you can also join streams together to find out about interesting topics, or just to hang out in virtual space.

Yubo is focused on encouraging actual interactions like these, to generate real shared memories rather than vapid ephemeral online comments. It's an approach that'll have you spending more time each day actually getting to know someone. 

These are just a few of the reasons Yubo is so great - download it now on iOS or Android to check it out for yourself!