Dusted Design Partners Limited

14.05.08

Sarah

So what’s the Qype about?

A friend of mine recently invited me to join a new online, networking, review community called Qype. I must confess, my first reaction was to frown suspiciously. Admittedly, I am addicted to Facebook - a cut above most other sites of a similar nature - but the plethora of twee applications and the resulting inundation of time-wasting requests drives me crazy.

But this is not another Facebook. In my opinion it is equally well designed and easy to use, but the similarities end there.

The site was set up by internet entrepreneur Stephan Uhrenbacher back in Novemeber 2005 for a German user-base. The UK was added in July last year and France joined the picture this January. The basic premise is that users can review anything that has a geographical location (so movies, books etc are not on the cards).

The reviews include restaurants, clubs, bars, museums, shops, galleries, schools, playgroups etc and where Qype differs from other local review sites is that users can better judge the reviews they read because they can see the reviewers profile and get an understanding of that person’s other views. To entice users, the creators have implemented an intriguing points system that rewards you for writing reviews, making new contacts and for when others rate your writing. It’s this competitive element that hooked me… I can’t wait until I reach 250 points when I get upgraded to the rank of ‘insider’.

Life, Technology, Web
facebook, Qype, review, Stephan Uhrenbacher

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