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Bill Gates-Backed Social Recommendation App Likewise Now Available for iOS and Android (axios.com)

Posted by msmash on from the how-about-that dept.

Bill Gates is not giving up on saving the world, but he is helping launch a new social recommendation engine. Likewise, as the iOS and Android app is known, is designed to be a place to get trusted recommendations on everything from restaurants to books, movies and TV shows. From a report: It won't cure polio or fix the U.S. education system, but Likewise could fill a niche helping people keep track of the books and TV shows their friends recommend as well as to discover new places. The free app, which launches today, began as the brainchild of Larry Cohen, a longtime Gates aide who serves as CEO of Gates Ventures. The Microsoft co-founder is funding the Bellevue, Wash.-based company, which has been working for nearly a year and has about 20 employees. "It's not the next Office, but there's a real need here," Cohen told Axios. Cohen is chairman of Likewise, with his onetime Microsoft colleague Ian Morris serving as CEO.

19 of 34 comments (clear)

  1. "The free app ..." by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

    ... my ass.

    Yelp contamination anyone?

    It will be worse than Amazon recommendations, Rotten Tomatoes, Google Reviews, and all those 5-stars from aunts and uncles.

    --
    It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    1. Re:"The free app ..." by Tsolias · · Score: 1

      since it's backed by gates... it will be bad.

    2. Re:"The free app ..." by CaptainDork · · Score: 1

      Agree.

      Wanna join a pool about how fast it's hacked?

      I already got the 15-30 minute slot.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
  2. free by Tsolias · · Score: 2

    advertisement.

    1. Re:free by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 1

      advertisement.

      And you can see how much people care about it based on their response. At time I posted this (hours after it was first added) it's still only 28 posts. No one cares about Yet Another social media/ Yet another review site.

      Advertise all they want. Noone cares anymore.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    2. Re:free by Tsolias · · Score: 1

      the point is that they are going to promote these posts as "we are so credible/important that even slashdot talks about us" even if slashdot readers care or not.

  3. So it's Yelp by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    Probably With all the problems that come with Yelp, and if not it will eventually when they want to make more money...

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:So it's Yelp by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      Probably With all the problems that come with Yelp, and if not it will eventually when they want to make more money...

      I've not really used Yelp that much before, I've occasionally run across it from Google Searches...but that's about it.

      What problems does Yelp have that you are referring to?

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
  4. Is this for real, or clickbait? by mileshigh · · Score: 1

    The app's name isn't mentioned, not even in original article!

    1. Re:Is this for real, or clickbait? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      It's the first word in the second sentence.

    2. Re:Is this for real, or clickbait? by jtara · · Score: 1

      The app's name isn't mentioned, not even in original article!

      Likewise.

      (Cue Abbot and Castello...)

  5. What the world needed by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Another playground for astroturfers.

    But maybe it's a good thing. If companies gaming the "recommendation system" have to spend more and more money to keep gaming it, maybe they will eventually go bankrupt.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:What the world needed by Jason+Levine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I ran a review/rating site over a decade ago. It was the first real website I ever launched and its purpose was to collect reviews and ratings on As Seen On TV products. I had quite a collection of positive and negative reviews on a lot of products. (Including some scary reviews such as multiple claims of chemical burns from a popular hair removal product that was still available last I checked.) Even back then, I'd get a "mysterious" influx of positive reviews for products that all were essentially the same. These all invariably came from the same IP address. Nowadays, I'm sure those astroturfing posts could vary the wording and be run from different IP addresses all to hide the fact that the reviews were faked.

      I know some review sites, like Yelp, have underhanded practices, but I don't envy the honest review sites out there. You constantly need to watch out for and take down fake reviews otherwise any real reviews on your site will just look faked as well. That site will always have a special place in my heart as the first website I ever ran, but I definitely don't miss the work that came from running that site.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  6. US only? by JohnStock · · Score: 1

    It seems...

  7. Suddenly I feel the need by bobstreo · · Score: 1

    for an electronic condom for my electronics. /s

    I wonder how many boatloads of cash the ad revenue to push "recommendations" to the "users" of this app will pay out;

  8. "there's a real need here" by Comboman · · Score: 2

    there's a real need here

    While I agree there's a need for a review/recommendation system that can't be gamed by bad actors, nothing about this one indicates it will be any better than the rest.

    --
    Support Right To Repair Legislation.
    1. Re:"there's a real need here" by swillden · · Score: 1

      there's a real need here

      While I agree there's a need for a review/recommendation system that can't be gamed by bad actors, nothing about this one indicates it will be any better than the rest.

      It sounds like in the long run the intention is to combat fake reviews by surfacing only reviews from people you have a social connection to. There are obvious problems with that, among them that it only works if people you're connected to (a) use the app and (b) have posted an opinion on something you're interested in, but it seems less prone to gaming.

      --
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  9. Re:1984 was not a suggestion, it was a warning. by MrMr · · Score: 1

    You clearly don't know what 'friends' are. Talking to, or spending time with, actual people has nothing to do with Bill's concept of a friend.

  10. Saving the world? by CanadianMacFan · · Score: 1

    More like harvesting data from the world.

    And when does it take 20 people a year to make a recommendation app? It just came out so they weren't dealing with users or trying to get stores to put signs up for the app.