An executive who helped create Bumble started an app to help women find mom friends

pulse

October 2, 2017 8:02 PM

Peanut is like Tinder but for mom friends, and it just launched in San Francisco.

In a desperate attempt to meet other mothers, Ivana Mannel Googled "how to make mom friends in Dallas." She didn't have any family or friends with kids of their own in her area, and was desperate to find someone to relate to. What she found on the other end of her search was Peanut, an app that links up mothers with other compatible moms in the same area.

Now, she says she goes on the app everyday to exchange messages with other moms. One of her "matches" is teaching her French, and another how to make Sushi. "

She wanted to focus specifically on the female user experience, and created Peanut with all of the constraints of motherhood in mind. The app connects to users' calendars, and allows busy moms to schedule and add playdates or other meetups directly to their calendars.

Safety is also a critical feature – it's why Kennedy requires users to connect Facebook accounts and use geolocation tools. Dallas mom Jess Elo said she recently

"There's a safe feeling to it, you know where they live, and how old their kids are. That's the key to it." she said.

The isolation that comes along with having a baby can be difficult, but Yalda Uhls, a researcher at UCLA and author of Media Moms & Digital Dads, emphasized the importance of young mothers also taking time to connect with each other and their babies in non-virtual worlds.

"Looking at your face is how kids learn non-verbal empathy cues, and if you are always looking at your screen they won't learn." she said.

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