Peanut App’s Newest Feature Lets Moms Ask What’s Really on Their Minds
Meeting other mamas isn’t easy. In fact, sometimes it feels like you’re back in the dating game. You sheepishly introduce yourself to the playground pack, hoping that just one of the moms there will be the right “match.” Well, you can stop stressing about where and how to meet like-minded mommies, because that’s what Peanut is for. Peanut is an app (free on iOS and Android) that helps you connect with moms who share similar interests and are located in your area. Similar to dating apps, after building a profile, you get matched with other moms. You can then chat with your matches and create meetups. So you’ll finally make new mom friends — but that’s not all.
Conversation and Community
Along with the chat and meetup aspects of Peanut, there’s also the new Pages feature. Peanut Pages lets you interact with the entire app community — not just your mommy matches — showing you content that’s relevant to you.
Pages expands on Peanut’s other functions and helps mothers to do much more than just meet other mothers. It lets them ask questions, share favorite tips and advice, and even create polls (and who doesn’t love crowdsourcing?). Peanut Co-Founder and CEO Michelle Kennedy tells us, “We launched Pages in February to deepen those connections even further and provide mamas with a place to ask questions, share learnings, and be heard in a meaningful way by the broader Peanut community.”
What Questions Are Moms Asking?
Discussions on Pages cover a wide range of topics, and you’ll find everything from motherhood to work and money, as well as love, sex, relationships, travel, beauty, local events, and more. And Pages changes and grows with you as you use it. Kennedy notes, “Pages acts intelligently by using smart algorithms to not only show what is trending, but to also show content most relevant to the user. The more a user engages with the app, the more curated the content will be, thus personalizing each user’s experience.”
Current popular discussions broach practical, often challenging topics that will help you navigate your home, work, and family life, such as “How to ask for more money,” “How long is it okay for my son to see me naked?” (remember, privacy doesn’t just extend into the digital world of social media — it happens in your own home too), “Why does my daughter prefer my husband over me when she’s sick?”, and “Tips for requesting to work remotely one day per week.”
Online Safety Is Paramount
With all there is to worry about when it comes to online privacy and protecting your data, you may be wary about downloading yet another app. But Peanut has put safety checks in place to make their app a more secure way for mamas to meet. Users can only create profiles via a Facebook or Google account. In other words, you need an existing account to gain access.
Moms who are nervous about asking questions on Pages can take another step to feel safe: The app allows you to post questions and polls in incognito mode, so you can remain anonymous if you’d like — meaning you can ask what’s really on your mind!
Before you start worrying about mommy-shamers (and yes, they’re an unfortunate fact of online life), Peanut Pages has their own way of handling potential trolling. “Pages is moderated by a combination of the power users on Peanut that we call MVPs (Most Valued Peanuts) and the community at large, who ensure that the community remains a safe space for all users,” says Kennedy.
We all know being social isn’t easy for everyone, but Peanut (plus its Pages feature) is helping to make it easier. Kennedy says, “When I was home on mat leave with my son, I found myself scanning blogs for baby advice at 2am while my friends were still hanging out in clubs, and it was a bit lonely and isolating, and the message boards felt so outdated and clunky. I looked at the amazing things we had been doing with dating apps and thought, ‘Why isn’t there something out there that connects moms and doesn’t talk down to them?’ And so we built Peanut as the answer. The goal of Peanut is to help mamas connect and find the support they need, whether one-on-one IRL or on Pages.”
Would you try Peanut Pages? Let us know what you think on Twitter @BritandCo!
(Photos via Getty and Peanut)