If social media needs anything, it’s certainly more opportunities to make context-less judgments of people you barely know. That’s where the peeple app comes in.
Launching in November, the app, created by two women from Calgary, “allows users to provide a rating and commentary on the people they come in contact with everyday,” according to co-founder Julia Cordray in the Calgary Herald. Because leaving comments on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tinder, OkCupid, Linkedin, Hot or Not, and Rate My Professors is just not enough.
“We feel this is the ultimate social experiment,” said Cordray, hauntingly. “Let’s look at everyone in the three ways you could possibly know someone — personally, professionally and romantically — and let the world rate them, while allowing yourself to be rated.” Like Yelp but for people, the app lets users rate others in those three categories while leaving comments. According to its site, peeple lets us “better choose who we hire, do business with, date, become our neighbours, roommates, landlords/tenants, and teach our children.” As if we’re all experts in all those categories.
Users have to sign in through Facebook and won’t be allowed to be anonymous, which will ideally curb mean comments that come with a low rating. Additionally, mean comments will be private for 48 hours so the two parties can work their beef out among themselves.
Initial, anonymous, comments seem to give the app low ratings.
Cordray appeared to take to the comments in the Calgary Herald to defend peeple against those who thought it was a bad idea, saying it’s about “positivity” and “integrity.”
The utility of the app remains to be seen, but at least peeple seems able to generate buzz.
H/T Calgary Herald| Photo via Summer Skyes 11/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)
