Netflix, Yelp, Goodreads, Foursquare, and TripAdvisor provide users with valuable recommendations. There are limitations, though. Each site or app is expert in only certain segments, and, the recommendations provided are often from strangers.
Tastebud, a new app launched by former TIME.com general manager Craig Ettinger, seeks to change that. The app provides content recommendations from friends, family, and influencers and spans across TV, film, books, music, and other apps.
“One of the unique features of Tastebud is that people can request specific recommendations around television shows – among other entertainment options,” Craig Ettinger, the creator of Tastebud, tells LostRemote. “Tastebud is not about “checking in” to just any show that you happen to be watching. It’s about making recommendations you truly believe in – the shows you’re passionate about.”
App features include:
– Discover great entertainment content by following people you know and other influencers.
– Save recommendations you like under your profile for easy reference later on.
– Customize your feed by filtering out any of the six entertainment categories you’re not interested in and you can even choose to see only recommendations or only requests.
– Stay informed with notifications when friends need a new recommendation, when someone responds to your own request for a recommendation, when a recommendation of yours is liked, and when you get a new follower.
– Easily share recommendations and requests out to Twitter, Facebook and your phone contacts as well – Tastebud posts are fully viewable on the web.
While Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix also offer recommendations, it takes more work to receive them. “[They] offer ratings and reviews and the user is required to sift through lists of items in order to extract a “recommendation” out of the data,” Ettinger says of the sites. “These are not primarily recommendation-focused platforms and the input comes from a wide range of people whose taste you may or may not trust… In an increasingly crowded entertainment market place, Tastebud’s sole focus is on the exchange of recommendations.”
