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‘Peeple’ also known as the ‘Yelp for people’ is an app that allows you to review and rate people you know the same way you would with a local business. The app was not yet launched but it already sparked outrage across the Internet.
Developers said that Peeple is set to be rolled out in November and would feature a five-star rating system for friends, partners, and other individuals you met and you want to submit a comment on.
Reviewers, however, need to first prove that they are at least 21 years old, submit their phone number, and the Facebook account. They need to be active on the social media for at least the last half of year. Additionally, users need to submit the phone number of the person who is being reviewed, and only comments made under the user’s real name would be posted on the site.
Once a comment is submitted, the other person will receive a text message. The two sides will have 48 hours before the review is made public to settle their differences. The other person would be able to “defend themselves” by commenting on the negative review.
The site’s creators said that a profile needs to be confirmed before you can post a negative review. But if the reviewee claims a profile, he or she cannot opt out, delete the profile, or remove negative reviews.
Fortunately, reviews have an expiration date – a year after the initial post. The service also outlaws a series of abusive practices, but no one can guarantee that everyone will play nicely, unless the site has an army of staffers to moderate every piece of content.
But people online are not excited with the new app. The inflow of negative comments temporarily put the site out of service, its Facebook was filled with bad comments, and there is even an online petition to block the app from two major app stores.
Critics argue that the idea behind the new app is flawed because discovering other people’s qualities and flaws are a part of life. And that experience can be altered by biased comments on people made by other (imperfect) people.
The two developers of the app Nicole McCullough and Julia Cordray declined to comment on the service and negative comments. Peeple promotes itself as aentirely new app, but the idea behind it is not new. You can already comment on people on Facebook for instance. LinkedIn is also interested in profiling people and encouraging their peers to comment on them.
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