Let the Mean Girl nightmares commence! Coming early November 2015 is the world’s very own virtual “Burn Book”, Peeple. An app that lets you and your friends rate each other on a scale of 1 to 5 AND gives the whole world has access to the rankings.
Also Read: This Tool Determines Your Personality From Your Facebook Likes
Initially, the $7.6 million dollar valued app was designed so that users 21 and older with a valid Facebook profile can sign up, and then are able to add people they know – providing they have their phone numbers, without their consent. From there, users are able to rate the people they know from 1 to 5 and leave either positive or negative comments on their profile. Virtually allowing other users to create a profile for you with your phone number, without your knowledge. Instead, you will be notified via text that you have been added to Peeple, but for the time being, you won’t have an option to remove your profile from the app. Scary right?!
However, there is GOOD news- to which I say sarcastically…
If you are not a Peeple user, only positive comments will be live, whereas if you are a Peeple user, positive reviews will show up instantly, and negative ones will remain pending for 48 hours to which you have the ability to dispute the validity of the claims.
This also includes the app independently assessing the claims for compliance to the terms & conditions including bans of:
- – profanity
- – degrading comments
- – abuse
- – sexual and legal references
- – racism
- – hateful content
However a bit of more good news (perhaps a bit less sarcastic) is the fact that the app designers Julia Cordray and Nicole McCullough are listening to their future users. In fact, they even have put together a webseries, “Peeple Watching” to document the progress of the app:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9d5_f6Hhm8
Catch the FULL series here.
Whether or not the series and user engagement justifies the use of this app, has yet to be determined.
So while at the moment, the app provides people around the world with no means of opting in or out, it is in the works. And according to a statement via their company Facebook page, the creators are listening:
[quote]We hear you loud and clear. 1. You want the option to opt in or opt out. 2. You don’t want the ability for users to start your profiles.[/quote]
Launched already to 5,000 user, the app is currently working out the kinks, but what the world REALLY wants to know is why?!
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Why the creators thought the world was ready for such a judgment driven app?! In an interview with the Washington Post, Julia Cordray disclosed just that: Essentially, the app was designed to provide its users with information about the people they interact with every day in social, professional, and romantic situations, not to JUDGE but rather compare and contrast people.
[quote]People do so much research when they buy a car or make those kinds of decisions. Why not do the same kind of research on other aspects of your life?[/quote]
The two creators insist the app will NOT be a bullying platform, but instead an app that promotes good feelings among the people you interact with on a daily basis.
In fact one of their most proud features of the app is your ability as a user to “spread the love” and “share the positive things that you say about people or the positive things that people have said about you through our sharing features.”
Julia Cordray even goes as far to compare the app to Yelp – probably where Peeple’s nickname came from, “Yelp for People”.
She goes on to state that while Yelp has an option to be anonymous, of its 47 million reviews 79% of them are positive. And she believes that the lack of anonymity on Peeple will strongly effect the amount of negative reviews of users in a positive way. Check out her Facebook post here.
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Seems simple enough right? The world seems to disagree, and this app cannot seem to stay out of our news, and Twitter feeds.
Let’s be honest though, the outcome was inevitable with apps already out such as Yelp!, Trip Advisor and more. It was only a matter of time before we shifted our focus to reviewing the lives of the people around us.
Who knows, maybe this will minimize the need to Facebook creep, or Google search romantic dates and future employers?
Whatever your reasoning for wanting this app, a number of people see more problems with the app than positives.
According to an article done by BBC Steven Heffer, a law firm partner & Head of Media & Culture at Collyer-Bristow, a lot of legal- head aches are on the horizon with this app, the biggest ones being defamation and online abuse.
While we can appreciate the true novelty of the idea behind the app, even the creators know innovation always brings about fear and uncertainty. According to Julia Cordray, it is natural for people to be upset and confused push back with change.
But, that being said, the creators via their website have left us with this thought:
[quote]Whether you love us or our concept or not, we still welcome everyone to explore this online village of love and abundance for all.[/quote]
So stay tuned to see more about Peeple and other social media platforms as they emerge and develop here at WeRSM.
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