What started as Malini Agarwal’s Facebook experiment to spread positivity, empathy, and kindness amongst 100 girlfriends in 2018, has now catapulted into an extraordinary community that is over 55k women strong. 2020 saw this group’s population bursting at its seams, with new members that are eager to engage, learn, have fun and support each other while affecting a real, positive impact on women’s lives everywhere.
It is this critical mass and the group’s hyper-engagement that has now propelled MissMalini Entertainment to take this positivity ethos one step further, and launch ‘Girl Tribe by MissMalini’ - India’s first App to instill and offer ‘rewards for positive behavior’ through its unique Positivity Points system.
Girl Tribe is a ‘win-win community’ for women looking for a safe and uplifting space to connect with other women, away from the trolling and negativity of conventional social media. It brings together a diverse range of women of all ages, backgrounds, and experiences to converse, share views, and offer expertise on any topic.
“The ‘Malini’s Girl Tribe’ Facebook group was originally created to give women a safe, troll-free, and harassment-free place to express themselves and support each other,” explains Malini Agarwal, Founder, MissMalini Entertainment & Girl Tribe. We found that the constant trolling, rampant sexual advances, and widespread negativity on traditional social media were preventing women from opening up and enjoying the true power and purpose of social media: to connect and share with like-minded people at a scale that is not otherwise humanly possible. With the onset of the compulsory stay-at-home lockdowns, finding these connections in a trusted environment has become all the more important.”
“While there are various helpful single-issue communities designed for women, we realized that this wasn’t enough. Sometimes you just want a place where you can openly and safely talk about whatever is on your mind, knowing that you will be heard and supported by new and familiar faces. There are so many things women care about, be it careers, relationships, travel, leisure, mental health, motherhood, friendship, etc that a diversity of views in one place makes for an even more lively and useful community, plus it gives you the opportunity to be exposed to new ways of thinking and jump into conversations you may never have thought you could talk about with perfect strangers. It is very comforting to know you are not alone, in fact at times like Girl Tribe offers you a space to be alone-together.” she adds.
Aside from the harassment, however, Agarwal found the real antagonist to be the daily ‘beauty contest’ and ‘compare culture’ on social media - a toxic by-product that destroys a woman’s fundamental spirit and confidence, causing well-documented mental health harm from “social media fatigue”.
Hence, unlike other social media that makes you constantly chase Likes, Follows and public validation that other people give you and often leaves you anxious, unhappy, and incomplete; Girl Tribe empowers you with ‘Positivity Points’ every time you contribute to the community (eg: when you start a conversation or leave a comment on someone’s post), reinforcing a win for every little positive behavior or kindness shown to another member on the App. These points can then be redeemed for fun virtual (eg: stickers) and physical goods (eg: masks and T-shirts) in the app’s exclusive ‘Tribe Store’. In fact multiple brands have also affiliated with Girl Tribe to offer free classes, products, experiences and more. Malini mentions, “Positivity is literally our in-App currency. We also offer several exclusive virtual and physical events that you cannot find anywhere else like Zoom dates/Virtual Happy Hours with celebrities, masterclasses and sharing circles. All redeemable via the Positivity Tribe Store.”
In other words, with Girl Tribe the more you give, the more you get! And how much you give is always in your hands!
“With our App, we are building a platform that puts empathy and kindness first by providing a safe, secure and fun ecosystem for women to interact and affect real change via plausible ‘real-life’ digital friendships. We, the Girl Tribe community, are our own experts and support system. One day we’ll have women from every walk of life, area of expertise, and skill that we can start our own virtual Queendom!”, beams Malini, “one where every girl is welcome, and the only criteria for eligibility is kindness.”
Available on Android and iOS stores, the Girl Tribe App is offering members a global sisterhood of women who are positive, uplifting, and supportive of each other. Every member of the App can create her user profile, with a unique “Sticker Book” and “Ribbon Closet” to showcase her earned collections- Sticker gifting is a fun and engaging reminder of kindness, via notes members give and receive. Members will also earn “Ribbons” as they unlock certain activity milestones.
Tribe Members can also upload photos and videos or post ‘anonymously’ if they choose, for sensitive topics. Members can also show their support and acknowledge each other with our own spin on the concept of emojis. In the Tribe we have named them “Vibes” (as voted on by the Facebook community itself) - unique reactions via custom-designed emojis that allow for a greater range of emotions, other than the standard emoticons. Malini says, “In the Tribe people often share gratitude, or ask for love and prayers and find each other’s posts relatable. So we have given them the option to share those feelings above and beyond a simple ‘like’ or ‘love’. They can also give gifts to other members on their posts and attach a memorable note if they are moved to do so, beyond just the typical Reaction or Comment option.
