A new app called Peeple is currently in the works, soon allowing people to give other humans a rating, just like they would a restaurant on Yelp, according to ABC News.
Although the app hasn’t even launched yet, there is concern that, in a world where cyberbullying has become more common, Peeple may not be the best business venture.
"This kind of thing has been tried many times before," says serial entrepreneur James Hong, founder of the early ranking website Hot or Not, according to CNN.
“Try searching forUnvarnished, or Lulu, an app that's been doing this with scale for a while on the dating market.”
The apps mentioned run under a very similar idea to that of Peeple, yet they have reportedly run into problems regarding online abuse and competition among app users.
One thing future Peeple users should know about is that anyone can add a new user and you reportedly can’t remove your profile from the app once you’ve made one. The only detail you need to know about a person before you add them on the app is reportedly the user’s cell phone number.
Very much like on Yelp, a person is reportedly given a rating of up to five stars and a review as to why they were given that specific rating.
The only difference between Yelp and Peeple is that when a user is given a review of two stars or less, they are reportedly given 48 hours to work out the disagreement with a reviewer. When the two days are up and the two haven’t come to a resolution, the review is published.
Peeple seems to be putting importance in getting every person that could potentially review your profile to like you so others will find you appealing. Basically, high school in app form.
Controversial #Peeple app reflects a lack of understanding about Canadian law, professor says https://t.co/V8b4tyrn3j pic.twitter.com/HWkSBVGMnC
— Metro News Canada (@MetroNewsCanada) October 2, 2015
Founders of the app are aware that bullying may become a problem in this sort of online environment so they’ve made guidelines. If a review is posted by someone a user doesn’t know or includes bullying and hateful content, it will reportedly be removed.
Despite what it sounds, Peeple’s creators have dubbed their new app as one based on “positivity”.
"Your network lifts you up and says positive things about you so that you can have a strong online reputation and get job opportunities, access to more networking opportunities with like-minded people, interact with other single people, and have the ability to search others to make better decisions around your greatest assets such as your family," the Peeple website says.
“You can look up the character of the people you meet and interact with."
