<div><em>An odious app is in the works and it wants you to rate your friends, family and colleagues on a 5-point scale, writes <strong>Mala Bhargava</strong></em></div><div> </div><div>I don’t know what Julia Cordray and Nicole McCullough were thinking of when they dreamt up an upcoming app called Peeple, but anyone who plans to use it one day should think twice.</div><div> </div><div>These two developers came up with Peeple, which is due to release sometime in November, according to reports, to create a sort of Yelp for people. Yelp, which is popular in the US, is all about ratings and recommendations for places and companies, particularly restaurants.</div><div> </div><div>But a Yelp for people represents what’s so wrong with our new world of sharing and rating and reviewing and recommending. Social Media has already done more than its bit to bring us the Like button and the Favourite star and voting up or voting down things that people say. As if it weren’t bad enough that people have started to take those so seriously, now we will have our own family, friends and colleagues trying to rate us on a 5-point scale on just about anything.</div><div> </div><div>The Peeple app will let you search for anyone you know. But if they’re not there, you can create a profile for them anyway. It’s not yet clear whether they have to sign up but if so, thank heavens for small mercies. Then, as a user goes about day-to-day relationships and finds something nice or annoying, he or she can promptly give it a name and a rating. Explanations can also be put in for the victim’s express attention. If it’s a negative rating and comment, the app kindly waits for 48 hours to give the participants a chance to sort it out. When that doesn’t happen, it all goes live in public and the victim has to defend himself or herself where everyone can see. It sounds like a reality show in an app. So many things about this planned app are disturbing that it really is cause for pause. One needs to stop and think whether this is where we wanted technology to lead us. But of course, it isn’t just technology, is it. It’s what people want to do with it.</div><div> </div><div>One extremely unnerving aspect is the idea that you can quantify everything. Human beings have communicated their praise, dislike, love, annoyance, anger and so on in thousands of ways, not the least of them their body language and expressions. A subtle change in tone can send a powerful micro-message that tells the other person in no uncertain terms how you feel. Do we need Like buttons and ratings and stars to now do that job?</div><div> </div><div>Another disconcerting aspect here is the public angle. In the past year I have seen a cousin propose to a man on video shot at the airport, complete with a flash mob of friends and then put the lot up for more people to see. I’ve seen a husband give his wife a surprise ticket to a vacation, leading to a personal moment of joy which was duly filmed for all to see. And so on. Now ratings of people, if these two developers have their way, are to go public.</div><div> </div><div>There’s little doubt that even when positive, rating your loved ones (or pet hates) on personal, professional or dating issues, as the app proposes to let you do, will be a source of discomfort and conflict. Imagine what happens when I rate a friend 5/5 on warmth and he gives me a mere 3.5. That would be the end of that. Even sex is not out of bounds for ratings in the Peeople app.</div><div> </div><div>The only positive thing is that people will probably dislike it enough to let it die a merciful death. But with today’s new psychology of technology — you never can say. All I know is I heartily give Peeple a heartfelt zero.</div><div> </div><div>In a quick development, this app has now been turned “100% positive” after getting an avalanche of criticism. It’s still likely to be DOA because the basis is an unpalatable idea.</div><div> </div><div><div>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-11-2015)</div></div>
