ABU DHABI // Two PhD students from the Masdar Institute are taking on Tinder with their own spin on traditional ways of online networking.
Rafael Harutyunyan, 25, and Ashot Mnatsakanyan, 27, both from Armenia – who form the Abu Dhabi company BROgrammers – have developed Jeltee, which takes its name from the Hindi word “jaldee”, meaning “hurry up”.
Like Tinder, users swipe through the accounts of others, but the difference is that after you start chatting to someone you have only 24 hours to decide whether or not to meet before the chat “disappears”.
“You either like, or dislike people,” Mr Harutyunyan said.
Users, who must be over 18, create a profile through their Facebook account. Profiles show the age, the number of shared interests and the distance between two users.
To maintain anonymity, Jeltee does not share names, which they say will prevent people from searching for extra information on the internet.
Once a match is made, the chat begins, and the clock starts ticking.
“When it ends, the only option left is to invite them somewhere.
“If you don’t, the chat will disappear,” Mr Harutyunyan said.
“We noticed how much time people were spending online in different applications and we were like, this is crazy. For months, they can chat, never meet, and just share pictures. Just endless chatting,” Mr Mnatsakanyan said.
“We ran through some scientific research that showed even three minutes is enough to know if you would like to go out with that person or not. In our case, we make it 24 hours. We shouldn’t need more than that.”
Mr Harutyunyan said: “It’s pretty hard to understand what a person is like when you’re just reading what they’re writing. You cannot feel their emotions. The other person can write whatever they want. You will have an illusionary portrait of that person. We are promoting quick interactions.”
There is another incentive to meet – restaurants and cafes that Jeltee has partnered with will offer discounts to those who are meeting through the app – so called “Jeltee specials”.
Each user receives half of a discount code. Only when they meet can they join their discount codes and receive the deal.
Since launching in early February, Jeltee has attracted more than 8,000 users and established 17,000 different matches. It is available on iTunes and Windows Mobile in the UAE.
“Because the UAE is so multinational, it’s a very good place to test the application and to understand how people use it,” Mr Mnatsakanyan said.
They hope to release an Android version of the app soon and expand to other countries.
To avoid the fate of Tinder, which was partly blocked in the country, they are not marketing Jeltee as a dating app.
“One problem with them is that they are positioned as a dating app, which is not the case with ours,” Mr Mnatsakanyan said. “We are definitely not about dating, it’s about social discovery.”
Mr Harutyunyan said: “We are trying to build a community of social enthusiasts who are keen to meet new people in real life.”
They are monitoring registrations and filtering out users who do not use the app as intended. User profile photos are also moderated. Any complaints are investigated.
Peter Crasta, a senior security consultant at First Information Security, advised anyone using social media apps to be careful sharing personal information.
“Don’t give out crucial information such as telephone numbers, addresses, and PO box numbers,” he said.
esamoglou@thenational.ae
