Sarahah (Arabic: صراحة, romanized: ṣarāḥa) was a Saudi Arabian social networking service for providing constructive feedback. In Arabic, sarahah means "frankness" or "honesty".[1]
 | |
| Type of business | Social networking |
|---|---|
Type of site | Social Networking |
| Available in | 13 languages |
| Founded | November 2016[1] |
| Dissolved | 15 December 2021 |
| Headquarters | |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Zain-Alabdin Tawfiq[1] |
| Industry | Internet |
| URL | www |
| Advertising | Yes |
| Registration | Required for receiving feedback; optional for giving it |
| Users | 14 million (August 2017[update])[1] |
| Current status | Defunct |
Sarahah allowed 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. Spam was frequent, sent by third-party apps claiming to be able to reveal the usernames of anonymous senders.
History
editIt was created by Zain-Alabdin Tawfiq at 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][2]
It was released on the US Apple App Store on 13 June 2017, and also had 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.[3]
On 26 August 2017, it was reported that the Sarahah mobile app quietly uploads the user's address book to its web servers.[4]
On 12 January 2018, Katrina Collins, after friends of her 13-year-old daughter sent her abusive messages, started a petition to have the app banned.[5] The petition gained nearly 470,000 supporters. Both Apple and Google had removed the app from their stores.[6][7]
In 2019, Sarahah launched a iOS app called Enoff (pronounced “enough”) which was aimed at employee activism and unfair practices.[8]
On 15 December 2021, Zain-Alabdin Tawfiq announced via Twitter:
"...I regret to share with you that we're shutting down the Sarahah platform
Thank you for helping us achieve unprecedented growth and making us proud, for your support and patience
I hope to see you again..."
This was retweeted by Sarahah's Twitter account.[citation needed]
See also
edit- Anonymous social media
- Ask.fm – a service which used to be anonymous, and was linked to several teen suicides in 2013[6]
- Secret (app) – a similar service which was shut down in 2015[6]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g Bell, Karissa (23 July 2017). "The story of Sarahah, the app that's dominating the App Store". Mashable. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ^ Bradshaw, Tim (28 July 2017). "Can Sarahah survive the trolls?". Financial Times. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ^ "Google Trends". Google Trends. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
- ^ Grauer, Yael (27 August 2017). "Hit App Sarahah Quietly Uploads Your Address Book". The Intercept. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "'Did I miss something?': Dolly's friend makes emotional statement". Special Broadcasting Service . 12 January 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- ^ a b c "Sarahah: Anonymous app dropped from Apple and Google stores after bullying accusations". BBC. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ "Sarahah: Popular anonymous messaging app blamed for making abuse easy is kicked off iPhone and Android". The Independent. 26 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
- ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2019-01-31). "After bans from Apple and Google, Sarahah debuts Enoff, an iOS app for anonymous feedback at work". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-04-12.