DIEM IS A SOCIAL SEARCH ENGINE WITH
big group chat energy
PSA! We are still early on in our journey to build a social search engine. Please continue at your own risk, especially if you want to help shape the way information is shared on the internet. 😉
CLOSING THE
gender information gap
Over generations, social, political, intellectual, cultural, and economic information resources have defaulted to serve the “default male” population. As a result, women talk, having learned that the fastest way to obtain reliable, valuable information is through each other instead.
Diem is building a social search engine to scale those candid conversations by embracing them instead. Our aim is to turn these conversations that happen “behind closed doors”—whether they’re about friendships, birth control, toxic masculinity, harassment, chronic pain, big career moves, enthralling books, easy recipes, and everything in between— into public and credible resources. We believe these secret conversations—whether in group chats, on Reddit, in a doctor’s office, or over drinks—are where the secrets to the universe lie.
We built Diem to scale those conversations.
What is Diem?
Diem is building a social search engine. It’s a dedicated place for people to search, collect, discover and share information, inspired by the way women have been passing knowledge to each other for centuries.
Think of it like the best and biggest group chat you’ve ever been a part of, where all the important, silly, quick, private, and frenetic knowledge you share is organized and stored for everyone to benefit from.
understand what inspires us
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Group chats with close girlfriends (Diem = biiiig group chat energy)
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The energy in a woman’s bathroom at a bar at 1am. We’re strangers that can quickly band together over shared experiences.
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Fighting against data bias in a world designed for men
Ok. How does it work?
We’ve trained a model called Diem AI to conversationally answer your pressing, personal, embarrassing, funny, and serious questions. The model combines a Large Language Model (LLM) with our own data, meaning stories our community members share. When you ask Diem a question, you’ll receive an AI-generated response that scrapes our platform (and the internet) for answers (through a feminine lens). Those results are then supplemented with real-life anecdotes from our community members.
Think of it as a Q&A sesh that’s similar to searching the web, but with a built-in network of trustworthy internet friends. Right now, our community has mostly been sharing stories about personal health, money, and relationships. They’re all pretty taboo topics and that’s the point. You can also “contribute” to a question already asked in Diem by writing out your own stories and recommendations.
Note: The more you contribute stories or use Diem, the smarter it gets for everyone. Cool, right?
Read about our ideals
SEARCHING WITH THE DOOR OPEN
Searching for answers to your questions online can often feel lonely and frustrating. Diem is a place where we embrace candid conversations—about friendships, birth control, toxic masculinity, harassment, chronic pain, big career moves, enthralling books, easy recipes, and everything in between—in order to turn those conversations into public resources. The plan is to close the gender information gap together, primarily by collating a credible, people-powered database of wisdom. Diem’s community is what makes Diem’s technology work.
TALKING AND LISTENING > PERFORMATIVE SHARING
Wisdom is like a currency here—we think of every person’s unique experience as a well of knowledge that someone else can learn from. After all, so many “taboo” universal experiences go unspoken in public spheres. So let's talk! There are no popularity contests in Diem, and we don’t prioritize content that is curated to perfection. Instead, we encourage open conversations among our community members where people feel safe to both talk and listen.
EXCLUSIVELY INCLUSIVE
The Diem universe has the same energy that exists in your favorite group chat or in the women’s bathroom of a crowded bar at 1 am. We’re strangers that can band together over shared experiences. We acknowledge that we all have our own life journeys and opinions, but that there’s always more to learn and add to the conversation.
PRIVACY FIRST
In Diem, we promise to protect your personal data and we’ll never share it. Your searches won’t be subpoenaed here. Pseudonyms are also welcome, because who doesn’t want an alter ego?
Diem Messaging Guidelines
Put people first.
Use people-first language that puts the person ahead of their characteristics. Instead of “a female athlete,” say “a woman on the Olympic swimming team.” People > descriptors. We should only be mentioning characteristics like gender, religion, race, sexual orientation, or abilities when they’re relevant to the discussion (which could be a lot in Diem, but we still need to be mindful of this).
Avoid calling groups of people “guys.”
The ”universal male” assumes that the default human being is male and “guys” isn’t gender neutral. Alternatives include saying “everyone,” “folks, “all” and “people.”
Avoid calling groups of women “girls.”
For people over 18 years old, woman or women is better phrasing.
Default to “they.”
Use “they” as the singular pronoun default if pronouns aren’t confirmed.
Avoid calling women “females” or “ladies/gals.”
“Females” can sound like a scientific term — it’s better to use women instead. Terms like “ladies” and “gals” can sound patronizing — it’s better to use women or “folks” instead.
Don’t underplay mental disabilities.
Descriptors like “ADD,” “bipolar,” and “OCD” are not metaphors for everyday behaviors — they describe real psychiatric disabilities that people have. We should also avoid derogatory terms that stem from the context of mental health, like “crazy,” “mad,“ or “psycho.”
Avoid gendered terms.
Common terms we use while building products that are gendered: grandfathered in, mom test, manpower, chairman, hacker. We should opt not to use these.
We don’t call women an underserved community.
The end.
When we write about a culture or ethnicity, we capitalize the name.
For example, we capitalize Black, Asian-American or Latino. We keep white lowercase because white refers to the color of a person’s skin and not a group of people.
messaging resources
Associated Press Stylebook
American Philsophical Association
Resources on Personal Pronouns
National Council of Teachers of English
The Radical Copyeditor’s Style Guide for Writing About Transgender People
Conscious Style Guide
GLAAD Media Reference Guide
The Association of LGBTQ Journalists Terminology
Trans Journalists Association Style Guide
Note: We originally made this guide for Diem employees to sync up on naming conventions, UX design, and our product voice, but we hope it’s helpful for other platforms who strive to build equitable online and offline spaces.
