Two women, Nicole McCullough and Julia Cordray, are developing an app called “Peeple,” which purports to be “Yelp for people,” or “Yelp meets LinkedIn.” The app, which will supposedly be launching in late November, ostensibly lets users rate anyone from an ex to a neighbor based on a five star review system. As if that wasn’t already dangerous-sounding enough, as with regular Yelp, users can’t opt out. Once your name is added to Peeple it’s there whether you like it or not, and there’s no removing bad or biased reviews.
The makers of the app claim that they’re setting “integrity features” in place to supposedly prevent against bullying. Users will have to leave reviews under their real names which are required to be linked to a legitimate Facebook account, and they must be 21 or older. Additionally, any negative reviews will be held for 48 hours in case the individual in question disputes the review. Of course for that to happen, one must be registered with the site.
Wait, I’m sorry — how is this not a terrible idea, again? One of the creators defended her app to The Washington Post Wednesday:
“People do so much research when they buy a car or make those kinds of decisions,” said Julia Cordray, one of the app’s founders. “Why not do the same kind of research on other aspects of your life?”
“As two empathetic, female entrepreneurs in the tech space, we want to spread love and positivity,” Cordray stressed. “We want to operate with thoughtfulness.”
The Washington Post also correctly notes that even in the hypothetical instance of positive reviews, the app is still “inherently invasive.” Not everyone wants every aspect of their life open for judgement to the internet’s watchful eye, all of the time. Well, more than it is already, anyway. I think nowadays you can get a pretty good idea of a person just by doing a rudimentary Google search, and really, anything beyond that is just subjective.
(Via Washington Post)