Loopt, the local social service specialists, are rolling out a new venture that further steeps their platform in the riches of community.
The company is pushing Qs – local micro-reviews “that represent a complete shift in how consumers can socialize information about places in real time.”
Co-founder and CEO of Loopt, Sam Altman, cave the mobile world a preview of Qs this week at the Where 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara, California.
According to Altman, Qs adds to Loopt’s current mobile service that connects people to nearby friends, while strengthening people’s connection to local businesses.
Loopt, in a formal release describing the augmented service, says it will now let mobile users do two things very easily:
- Get specific, useful information about a place in real time: Loopt users can easily flip through Qs results, which are presented like poll findings. This is a direct line into all the insider information about a place (for instance, an off-the-menu entrée, a specialty cocktail or the shortest bathroom lines at the ballpark). People can also push Qs to Loopt users around them to help get an answer.
- Contribute to the local conversation: In less than three seconds, users can answer a short question about a bar, concert, park – or wherever they are at the moment. Each answer adds to the real-time local conversation, which is viewable in a location-based stream (located on the home screen of the Loopt app).
“Our goal with Loopt is to help users get the local information they actually want when they’re mobile,” said Altman. “Mobile local search is happening in a different way than most thought – in general, users aren’t standing on the corner looking for the best Chinese food. They’re sitting in a restaurant, holding a dim sum menu, and scratching their head over what to order. The reality is: in a city like San Francisco, most places are worth going to. It’s what you do when you get there – that’s the information users need.”
