Creating a vibrant new social network for Muslims

Muzz, the world's leading Muslim marriage app with over 10 million users and a staggering 500K success stories, had a new vision. After years of facilitating connections for those seeking life partners, they desired to expand their reach and foster a more holistic online Muslim community. The goal was to design a social network, "Muzz Social," that transcended dating, offering a dedicated space for Muslims to connect, build friendships &nurture their faith in a safe & supportive environment. In this project, I led the design of the new social platform from concept to execution.

To kick off the Muzz social app project, we held a cross-functional workshop with key stakeholders from across the company (Marketing, Data Science, Engineering) following an initial meeting with the CEO and CTO. This collaborative session allowed us to gather a diverse range of perspectives on the social app concept. We captured these insights in a SWOT diagram (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to guide our decision-making throughout the project.

Next, I delved into in-depth research on community-based experiences. By analyzing successful social platforms, I identified core functionalities that fostered positive user engagement. These findings were consolidated into a "community experience framework" that served as the foundation for a subsequent workshop with the Muzz team. This session focused on brainstorming features and product directions for Muzz Social. We considered user reception alongside technical feasibility, ensuring a balance between ambition and practicality.  Through additional user interviews, we validated these ideas and honed in on the specific features that would create the most compelling social experience for Muzz's target audience.

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Design Muzz Social involved tackling several key design challenges. First, we needed to define the core features & functionalities that would foster a compelling & engaging social environment, while ensuring it remained aligned with the brand's values & the cultural & religious beliefs of its users. This meant carefully considering mechanisms for content discovery, fostering meaningful user interactions & ensuring social dynamics adhered to Islamic values.

Another crucial aspect was determining whether the social experience would integrate with the existing Muzz app, particularly in relation to the matchmaking functionality. We also needed to address user identities. With existing profiles within the matchmaking system, we debated whether these profiles could function for both social networking or if separate identities were necessary to cater to the different ways users might express themselves in dating versus social settings. Finally, we devised onboarding & offboarding processes. The onboarding process needed to smoothly introduce users to both the matchmaking & social aspects of the app, while the offboarding process catered to users who found a partner but still wished to stay active on the social platform.

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Muzz Social distinguished itself from existing platforms by prioritising Muslim values. While fostering a rich social network with free exchange of ideas between genders, the platform offered women and men-only groups with strict privacy controls. Additionally, a rigorous verification process ensured all users were vetted before posting, creating a safe and secure environment for the Muslim community.