Yelp for People App Earns Worst Idea of 2015

If you’re unfamiliar with the app, it’s an app that aims to let people review other people in the way that yelpers can review restaurants. The idea itself isn’t new, there have been numerous sites that have been created to help you rate ex-boyfriends and girlfriends, rate professors, rate politicians, or really rate any other person you interact with. Heck, LinkedIn to some extent allows you to rate your professional connections by their proclaimed skill set, so how is this any different?

Glad you asked. First off this is a personal review site nothing to do with a person’s professional skill set. That means you could say nasty things about someone just because your religious beliefs differ or maybe you just don’t like the way they dress. All someone needs is your phone number to review you. And I suppose that’s where this can get a bit sticky. See, most people use those phone numbers for their job applications, rental applications, and professional contact details. Now you’ve just given a landlord or employer an easy way to see if people are talking smack about you. Keep in mind, this may or may not be truthful information, it’s just easily available so why not check it out?

So maybe you’re just a student and you aren’t really concerned with getting an apartment or job. How about school bullies? Suicide is the 3rd largest cause of death among young people accounting for about 4,400 deaths per year in the USA according to the CDC. Do we really need to fuel that fire? It’s hard enough from kids who are being bullied to get away from their peers now that they are connected 24/7 to the world through cell phones and the internet.

Granted, Peeple (the yelp for people app) has declared that they have built in some extra precautions recently to reduce the likelihood for bullying to happen, but even still, why create that platform?

After much criticism, all online presence of Peeple was removed. Thank goodness, right?! How did any company manage to gain funding around this idea, especially to the tune of $7.6 million? Who actually was so void of emotion and so disconnected from society that they felt this was what people needed in their lives? Her name is Julia Cordray and she had previously founded a website for recruiting employees. You would think someone who built their career on a human resources website would understand the pitfalls of a project like this. However, she insists the project is a hoax, and that despite her many critics, she will be moving forward with Peeple. So even though you can’t find a website about it, make no mistake, there is at least one determined person to bring this platform to life.


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  1. laneG

    this is pretty fudged up

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