A new social networking-cum-local directory service has been launched for UK
urbanites.
Tipped
invites members to recommend local businesses and services with personal
reviews. It has a mobile equivalent,
Tipped.mobi,
so that it can be accessed via a mobile browser.
The service is free to users and will be funded by advertising. Initial
funding is from its founder Joel Brazil, ex-head of
Microsoft
UK's mobile services division.
The social networking element allows users to search on friends' tips and
those of friends of friends. Tipped currently boasts 4,000 unique users who
signed up to the beta test and by word of mouth.
"From florists to mechanics, nightclubs to solicitors, Tipped can help users
make informed choices even when on the move," the company says.
But, of course, the service is only as comprehensive as the number of people
who subscribe, and reflects their lifestyles.
For example, searches conducted at 17.00 on Thursday 5 September found 25
restaurants in Camden.
But searches for bookshops in Deptford, solicitors in Lewisham and
accountants in Thamesmead
(online card
fraud hotspot of the UK) all yielded no results.
A search for florists in Kensington provided 16 businesses, but none at all
in New Cross.
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