- A variety of useful information and columns for fathers during pregnancy and child-rearing are delivered daily.
- Linked to an app dedicated to moms, the system promotes communication between married couples.
- Constant feedback from users, which leads to rapid application improvements and high ratings.
Papa ninaru" introduced here is an application that provides a variety of useful information for fathers during the pregnancy and child-rearing period. By reading this information, fathers can increase their knowledge about pregnancy and childcare, which is not only useful for communication between husband and wife during pregnancy and childcare, but also enables fathers to be more actively involved in pregnancy and childcare. This service won the grand prize in the BabyTech® Award Japan 2021 Pregnancy and Pregnancy category. The BabyTech.jp editorial staff interviewed Mr. Miki of Eversense Corporation, the developer of "Papa ninaru," to learn more about the service, how it was developed, and its future development.
(We spoke to...)
Eversense Corporation
Yuki Miki
A variety of useful information and columns for fathers during the "pregnancy" and "child-rearing" periods arrive daily!
Editorial:Thank you very much for your time today. Could you begin by giving us an overview of "Papa ninaru" and its features?
Miki:Papa ninaru is an application "exclusively for fathers" who have children from pregnancy to about 4 years old. When using the application, it is possible to switch between two modes: Pregnancy Mode and Childcare Mode. In the pregnancy mode, the contents of the daily updates change according to the growth of the baby in the mother's belly. For example, you will receive information on how the baby is doing at that point in time, as well as suggestions and useful information for dads such as ...... that you should pay attention to when interacting with mom. Similarly, after the baby is born, various articles will be delivered in the childcare mode as the child grows.
For fathers, pregnancy is not a change that occurs in their own bodies, so it is difficult for them to become aware that they are becoming fathers. Therefore, it is difficult for them to view child-rearing as their own affair, and communication with mothers can be difficult. ...... Therefore, PapaNinaru aims to facilitate communication between couples by providing necessary information to fathers who are about to have or raising children in the form of "Mom's Feelings" and "A Word from an Older Father".
For example, by sending messages such as, "If you are unable to accompany your child for a medical checkup, it is a good idea to properly share information about the details with the couple," we encourage fathers to take a more active role in childcare.
Editorial:I downloaded the app before the interview, and I wish I had this app ...... before my children were born. I wish I had this app before my child was born, because fathers really don't know an overwhelming amount about child-rearing. In particular, I thought the "Pregnancy Schedule," which gives a bird's eye view of the "events" and "changes that occur to the mother's body" during the entire pregnancy period, was very wonderful. I feel that when dads can grasp the big picture in this way, they can calmly tackle childcare.
Linkage with pregnancy and childcare apps exclusively for mothers to eliminate knowledge gaps and lack of communication between couples.
Miki:Originally, Papa ninaru was based on an application called "ninaru" exclusively for mothers. Thanks to the high reputation of this app among its users, we have linked the contents of the articles in "ninaru" with those in "Papa ninaru". By doing so, we aim to bridge the gap in child-rearing knowledge between married couples.
Editorial:Yes, if we read the same articles on the same subject, we can naturally talk about it!
Miki:We have devised two major patterns of linking article contents. One is to display the same article in both applications at the same time. For example, in the ninth week of pregnancy, when morning sickness generally becomes severe, an article titled "How to get rid of morning sickness" is simultaneously distributed to both Papa ninaru and ninaru. The other pattern is to display different articles on both applications on a dare. To give a concrete example, during the 26th week of pregnancy, which is the stable period, articles on nursery school enrollment are posted on Papa ninaru, and articles on diabetes to be careful of during pregnancy are posted on ninaru. This is intended to support the cooperation of couples in childcare by distributing different articles that provide hints for each other to take useful actions during the period when mothers are going through a difficult time, and during the period when mothers are able to remain calm.
Editorial:So you suggest that dads provide information to help moms be there for them during difficult times, and when moms are calm, dads can also engage in the important work and role of "childcare" in child rearing!
Miki:That's right. Of course, there are also articles distributed exclusively for Papa NINARU. For example, since it is difficult to convey the size of a baby in the belly with words, we sometimes express it with illustrations such as fruits. In addition, user data shows that Papa ninaru is most frequently used at 7:00 a.m., which led us to believe that Papa ninaru is often used during commuting hours. Therefore, we are conscious of creating simple articles such as "Summary of childcare terms" and "Five childcare-related subsidies and grants" with an eye to making them easily readable during commuting time.
The app's high rating is due to its thorough approach to users in all aspects.
Editorial:Can you tell us how Papa Ninaru was developed?
Miki:The application for moms, ninaru, was released in 2015, and users of that application said, "I want an application for dads, too! and we released Papa ninaru in 2016. As a result, Papa ninaru has received more than 20,000 reviews on the app download site, with a rating of 4.8 on a 5-point scale.
However, until now there has been little trend for men to take maternity leave, and it has been difficult to catch up with the times. ...... Nevertheless, the legal system has been changed to make it easier for men to take maternity leave, and we believe that the number of male users will grow significantly in the future.
Editorial:Thank you very much. To begin with, what is the reason why the user rating of ninaru and papa ninaru is so high?
Miki:We have always developed our products with a "user first" attitude. For example, we have a system in place where we always listen to feedback from online reviews and SNS posts, such as "I wish this could be changed" or "I wish this was better," and immediately develop and revise the product. I believe that our culture of valuing user feedback is a major factor in our success.
Editorial:Can you give us an example of how such an attitude has actually been reflected?
Miki:For example, one of Papa ninaru's messages once advised, "If you are going to be late coming home from a drinking party or something, call me as soon as possible! This advice was delivered when the mother was in her last month of pregnancy. This advice was delivered when the mother was in the last month of pregnancy, but several users posted on social networking sites, "I wish the message would be more nuanced, saying not to go out drinking when the mother is in the last month of pregnancy: ....... So we have revised the article to say, "You never know what might happen, so refrain from drinking so that we can always be there to support you.
Editorial:That is indeed an area that seems to be catching on as a mom! Your high evaluation of the app is the result of steady improvement in those details.
Miki:The fact that all application development is done in-house may also contribute to the attitude and speed of response. During Mom's pregnancy, we also created all 295 different daily messages in-house.
The installation of Papa ninaru has made a significant change in the behavior of dads. ......
Editorial:Can you tell us what you think of Papa Ninaru?
Miki:First, moms find Papa ninaru, and then many of them have their dads install it. Then, we have received many comments from papa users that by looking at PapaNINARU every day, they understand information about their babies and their mothers' bodies, and their daily activities have changed. ...... This is something we are very happy to hear.
Another commenter said, "There seems to be very little summarized child-rearing information for fathers, either in books or on the Internet, and I am very grateful that the app can be easily accessed as a guide for first-time fathers. ......
In addition, according to a survey we conducted, the largest increase in communication between married couples triggered by the application was "about mom's health condition. I believe this was also in line with our goal of bridging the information gap between married couples and further promoting communication between them.
Editorial:How many users are there?
Miki:Compared to ninaru, an application for mothers, the number of users of Papa ninaru is still small. We would like to raise the number of users to the same level as that of ninaru.
Editorial:It would be a great waste if the mom has installed ninaru and the dad has not installed papa ninaru! I think the benefits would be multiplied many times over if a couple uses it together. ...... By the way, the navy shade is very masculine, but is the design aspect also very ingenious?
Miki:In fact, we recently changed the logo design of Papa ninaru. Previously, the "papa" part of "Papa-ninaru" was written "papa," but when we changed it to the katakana "papa," users increased the amount of time they spent using the application.
Editorial:It is true that katakana is more noticeable on a smartphone screen. You have really worked on the details!
It is expected to continue to grow as a valuable medium for connecting with dads from the time of pregnancy.
Editorial:Finally, can you tell us about the future development of "Papa ninaru"?
Miki: We intend to continue to bridge the information gap between fathers and mothers, and to develop functions that will further foster communication between couples. Also, currently only one child can be registered, but we are in the process of developing a feature that will allow siblings to be added so that families with multiple children can also use the system. We also hope to introduce commemorative images and other features that will encourage communication with mothers at milestone points in their pregnancy.
Editorial:Your company's commitment to making dads more accessible to moms is wonderful!
Miki:We believe that the number of men who need information on childcare will increase along with the revision of the law regarding men taking maternity leave starting in April 2022. Therefore, we would like to increase the number of users of the application and deliver information on pregnancy and childcare to more fathers. In addition, while there are currently media and communities for fathers after the birth of their children, I believe there are few media and communities that are connected with fathers during their pregnancy period. We believe that our strength lies in the fact that we have such connections, so we would like to support fathers and mothers in raising their children by gathering more opinions from fathers during the pregnancy period and providing them with solid support.
After the interview
I myself have a 3-year-old daughter, and it is true that I feel an overwhelming difference in the amount of information between husband and wife, resulting in a communication gap that makes me think, "Don't they understand that? This is especially true during the pregnancy period. I wish I had known about this app when my daughter was still in my belly. I highly recommend installing this app for fathers with pregnant mothers and fathers who have just had a newborn child!
Papa ninaru" Official Website
https://eversense.co.jp/product/papaninaru
