What is Sarahah and Why is it The Hottest App in Town?

Information technology wasn't that long agone when pretty much the just things that went viral were cute cat videos and "Charlie bit my Finger". That, and maybe, a few chain-mails that threatened you lot with disastrous consequences if you didn't forrard them to xx unfortunate souls in your contact list within the adjacent 24-hours. Yet, with the advent of online social media, the type stuff that goes viral has expanded vastly, from memes to tweets and from conspiracy theories to apps and everything in between. 1 such app that recently went viral and got everyone talking is 'Sarahah' and, if reports are to be believed, is all set to go ane of the most downloaded apps ever. So, what is Sarahah and why is in that location so much buzz around information technology?

What is Sarahah and Why is information technology in the Headlines?

The Sarahah app was created past Saudi Arabian developer Zain al-Abidin Tawfiq who originally started Sarahah.com to allow employees to anonymously share their honest feedback about their company without feeling restrained in whatsoever manner. He named his app Sarahah because in Arabic, it means 'candor', 'honesty', or 'openness'. It was just subsequently that he hit upon the idea of developing an app that would also pretty much do the aforementioned thing, merely instead of corporate employ, the app'southward target audience was individual users who'd be able to share their thoughts about their friends, family and neighbors without having to reveal their identity.

And so, thus was born Sarahah – the anonymous messaging app that'due south at present creating waves around the world. To be completely accurate, though, the consumer-centric version of Sarahah didn't showtime off as an app. Instead, information technology started life as separate section on the Sarahah website, but gained popularity then quickly that Tawfiq decided to launch a mobile app. The app was launch last June on both Android and iOS and, inside a few curt weeks, climbed to the top of the charts on both the platforms. According to leading app research firm, App Annie, Sarahah is currently sitting pretty at number one on the App Store in over 30 countries around the world. Information technology is besides extremely pop on Android devices, seeing as it has been downloaded between 5 1000000 and ten meg times from the Google Play Shop.

How Does Sarahah Work and How To Receive Anonymous Feedback?

According to a postal service on Sarahah'south official site, the bones objective of the platform is to enable users to get out honest and effective feedback for either their bosses, friends or acquaintances without having to worry about the repercussions. Equally a user, y'all can either choose to read comments simply from people with a Sarahah account, or from anybody irrespective of whether they accept signed up with the Sarahah or not. But in instance it'southward the quondam, yous'll have to cull that option manually, as, past default, you will receive comments from everyone. Also, considering this is not actually a social networking app in the strictest sense of the term, users don't get to follow or befriend anybody per se. At that place's also no option to reply to any of the messages, although, the company is apparently seriously considering introducing the 'Reply' feature if a post on the official Sarahah website is anything to go by.

In case you're interested in receiving anonymous feedback, you can either access the official Sarahah website and set upwards your account, or download the app by going over to either Google's Play Store or Apple tree's App Store. Once you sign up with the service, yous'll exist able to send your profile link to your friends (or post information technology publicly if you lot want feedback from anyone and everyone). Once your link is posted, anyone with access to that link will be able to go out their thoughts about you in consummate anonymity. You can also link your Snapchat account to the app by sharing your profile link via your 'snaps'.

Why is Sarahah so Controversial?

As mentioned earlier already, Sarahah has go immensely popular within a very little bridge of time, peculiarly amidst teenagers. This has given rise to concerns amongst parents, social workers and child psychologists that information technology could be a breeding ground for cyber-bullying nether the cloak of complete anonymity. While the company behind Sarahah claims that the platform allows people to observe their "strengths and areas for improvement", others are critical of the fact that information technology is enabling people to say things that they wouldn't have said in person. And as we all know, the sorts of things that you tin't tell others directly are most always, adequately unpleasant.

That being the case, Sarahah has extremely low ratings for such a popular app. It is rated a lowly iii.0 on the Play Store and an bottomless 2.3 on the App Store, with hundreds of reviewers complaining about harassment and threats they take received through the app. At least 1 reviewer on Play Shop even declared that their thirteen-year one-time sis really received a death threat aimed at their two-twelvemonth onetime blood brother through this app. Some other reviewer, Keeran Williams, had a word of caution for parents. Co-ordinate to her, "Kids are using this to bully other kids. There's no way of telling who they are and so they call back they tin say anything. My xiii year old daughter had a deluge of sickening corruption and sexual harassment. I've deleted it off her telephone. The Devs need to put more than protection in place".

Having said that, information technology's non like no ane could see this coming. Every bit 1 review on the App Shop put information technology, "What did you think was gonna happen if yous let people text other people anonymously?" Point taken. Things have escalated so quickly that many are comparing the app to platforms like Ask.fm and Formspring (Spring.me), both of which came nether fire at the acme of their popularity earlier this decade for failing to terminate rampant online harassment and cuber-bullying.

However, there are always two sides to each story, then as yous'd look, plenty of people have also been supportive of Sarahah. Have Ilona Jobson, for example, whose review on Play Shop points out that it's an user's choice whether to sign upward or non. According to her, "People will say what they call up and it can exist harsh, just it'southward your choice if you want to sign up". Others, similar Sarah Eleanor, are simply happy that they received "crazy", "dainty" and "humorous" opinions nigh them.

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Sarahah: The Latest Anonymous Messaging App

Knowing the style people behave when they're bearding, at that place'south no doubt that some horrific cyber-bullying is indeed taking place via Sarahah, but in that location's simply no style to tell which of these reviewers are being honest about their experiences and which ones are only trolls. That being the instance, it'south probably ameliorate that we proceed kids and vulnerable adults abroad from not just this item app, but other similar ones that could expose them to abuse from anonymous sources.

Sarahah perchance all the rage right now, just going forward, it will be interesting to run across how information technology will avoid some of the pitfalls of similar platforms that had one time created a stir, only have since folded upward following allegations of knowingly promoting harassment and cyber-bullying. An app called 'Secret' is a archetype case in point, having gone viral back in 2014. At the peak of its popularity, the app plainly had over xv million users and was reportedly valued at over $100 million. Nevertheless, after getting embroiled in various legal tussles amongst allegations that information technology encouraged bullying, the app was pulled from the Play Store and the App Store just a year and a one-half afterward its launch.

Other anonymous messaging platforms, like PostSecret, Whisper and Yik Yak have also come under burn down from time to time for either failing to protect their users' privacy or stop the incessant bullying, harassment and threats through their platforms. While Yik Yak close downwards earlier this year considering of its declining popularity and a steadily shrinking user-base of operations, the other 2 continue to be available for download on Android and iOS. It volition be interesting to run into if Sarahah suffers the aforementioned fate every bit Yik Yak and Secret, or if it is able to testify its critics wrong going frontwards.

Source: https://beebom.com/what-is-sarahah/

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