Matchmaking the Middle Eastern way
Blog: Three friends in Lebanon decided it was time to ditch the American-inspired ways of online dating and create their own "culturally aware" app for an Arab audience.
2 min read
17 Aug, 2015
Matchmallows seeks to link people up according to their personality traits [Getty]
What do you get when you cross Tinder with Match.com and market it to a Middle East audience? A spark named Matchmallows.
This latest online dating app has been created specifically for an Arab audience looking to find their potential other half, but with a more intimate approach into the world of dating.
"Here in the Middle East, it's not like in the States," Andy Tarabay, one of the developers of the app, told the Daily Dot.
Tarabay, along with friends Caline Nahhas and Jad Arida, developed the idea of Matchmallows from their office in Beirut, after seeing a gap in the market for individuals not looking to share too much information or personal photos online - which they believe stemmed from a larger cultural issue.
"The main purpose of launching Matchmallows was that the trending apps of today are all related to appearance - it's all about pictures," Nahhas said. “But people here in the Middle East and North Africa are afraid to publish their real names and their pictures."
The trio discovered that many people, especially women, felt intimidated by the idea of putting their photos online and therefore decided to fix the problem with a unique Middle Eastern creation of their own.
Unlike Tinder, the world-popular app, where users "swipe right" if a potential picture appeals to them, Matchmallow seeks to match according to personality traits.
Users set up profiles after answering a series of 27 questions, which the company says have been developed by psychologists. The user is then asked to choose the image that best represents his or her preference and is matched accordingly.
"It's how the other person thinks," Taraby said, "It's not only about what the other person looks like."
The dating dilemma may be a universal one, but with so many online apps already swamping the scene, only time will tell how successful Matchmallow's "distinctive" approach to dating will be.
This latest online dating app has been created specifically for an Arab audience looking to find their potential other half, but with a more intimate approach into the world of dating.
"Here in the Middle East, it's not like in the States," Andy Tarabay, one of the developers of the app, told the Daily Dot.
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| Matchmallows - the online app |
"The main purpose of launching Matchmallows was that the trending apps of today are all related to appearance - it's all about pictures," Nahhas said. “But people here in the Middle East and North Africa are afraid to publish their real names and their pictures."
The trio discovered that many people, especially women, felt intimidated by the idea of putting their photos online and therefore decided to fix the problem with a unique Middle Eastern creation of their own.
Unlike Tinder, the world-popular app, where users "swipe right" if a potential picture appeals to them, Matchmallow seeks to match according to personality traits.
Users set up profiles after answering a series of 27 questions, which the company says have been developed by psychologists. The user is then asked to choose the image that best represents his or her preference and is matched accordingly.
"It's how the other person thinks," Taraby said, "It's not only about what the other person looks like."
The dating dilemma may be a universal one, but with so many online apps already swamping the scene, only time will tell how successful Matchmallow's "distinctive" approach to dating will be.
Follow the Middle East's top stories in English at The New Arab on Google News
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