Company:Sarahah
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| Type of business | Social networking |
|---|---|
Type of site | Anonymous feedback |
| Available in | 13 languages |
| Founded | November 2016[1] |
| Headquarters | Saudi Arabia[1] |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq[1] |
| Industry | Internet |
| Website | sarahah |
| Alexa rank | 3,570 (global; (As of August 2017))[2] |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Registration | Required for receiving feedback; optional for giving it |
| Users | 14 million ((As of July 2017))[1] |
| Launched | 2016 |
| Current status | Active |
Sarahah (Arabic: صراحة) is a social networking service for providing anonymous feedback. In Arabic, sarahah means "frankness" or "honesty".[1] It was created by Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq in the end of 2016 and reached a sudden worldwide success by mid-2017.[1] This growth is considered to be deeply related with the release of a Snapchat update that allowed people to share URLs on their snaps.[1][3]
Sarahah allows people to text messages to others and the person reading that could then reply anonymously. Initially, it was meant for workers to compliment their bosses.
It was released on the US Apple App Store on June 13, 2017, and also has users in several other countries including Canada , India and Lebanon. An update was released by Snapchat on July 5. Within two weeks, it was at the number 1 position. The rise was also seen in a Google Trends report.[4]
On 26 August 2017, it was reported that the Sarahah mobile app quietly uploads the user's address book to its web servers.[5]
After the popularity of Sarahah, spam invites were sent by the third-party apps to the users in exchange for revealing the usernames of anonymous senders.[citation needed]
On 12 January 2018, it was reported that a woman in Queensland, Australia had started a petition to have the app and others like it banned, after friends of her 13-year-old daughter sent her abusive messages, including ones suggesting that she kill herself. A news report from the Australian Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) stated that the child's mother, Katrina, "called on Apple's App Store and Google Play to stop downloads of Sarahah, which allows people to leave anonymous feedback for each other".[6] On 21 February Katrina posted a message declaring success, saying that both Apple and Google had removed the app from their stores.[7][8]
See also
- Anonymous social media
- Ask.fm – a service which used to be anonymous, and was linked to several teen suicides in 2013[7]
- Secret (app) – a similar service which was shut down in 2015[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Bell, Karissa (23 July 2017). "The story of Sarahah, the app that's dominating the App Store". Mashable. http://mashable.com/2017/07/23/the-story-of-sarahah-app/. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ↑ "Sarahah.com Traffic, Demographics and Competitors - Alexa". Alexa Internet. http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/sarahah.com. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ↑ Bradshaw, Tim (28 July 2017). "Can Sarahah survive the trolls?". Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/7d2d59e0-72dd-11e7-93ff-99f383b09ff9?mhq5j=e1. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ↑ Google Trends
- ↑ Grauer, Yael (27 August 2017). "Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book". The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2017/08/27/hit-app-sarahah-quietly-uploads-your-address-book/. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ↑ "'Did I miss something?': Dolly's friend makes emotional statement". Special Broadcasting Service. 12 January 2018. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/did-i-miss-something-dolly-s-friend-makes-emotional-statement. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Sarahah: Anonymous app dropped from Apple and Google stores after bullying accusations". BBC. 26 February 2018. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-43174619.
- ↑ "Sarahah: Popular anonymous messaging app blamed for making abuse easy is kicked off iPhone and Android". The Independent. 26 February 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/sarahah-banned-iphone-android-download-app-store-down-not-working-anonymous-curious-cat-a8228941.html.
External links
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