It’s Good: New Review Platform Rejects Negativity
by David Klemt
Combine equal parts incredible team of founders, love for food and travel, and respect for an expression that we should all adhere to more closely, and you get a new review platform.
The expression from which this team derives their platform’s ethos?
“If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say it at all.” But how can a review platform embody that age-old expression?
Well, it turns out that answer is rather simple: by refusing to allow negative reviews. That’s the foundation of how It’s Good plans to operate.
That is, of course, quite the departure from Yelp, Google Reviews, Tripadvisor, and other review platforms. In my experience, Yelp draws the ire of most operators. Obviously, it doesn’t help Yelp’s reputation among operators that people can review bomb a venue rather easily, among other issues.
On It’s Good, there’s no “star” ratings system. Negative comments? The platform is “not even built for” those, according to co-founder John Legend.
“Either you recommend [a place or experience] or you don’t,” says Legend, elaborating further on It’s Good.
The team of founders also includes Kevin Auerbach (who comes from Apple), Meghan Raab (from Snap), and director and photographer Mike Rosenthal.
With Auerbach and Raab guiding what is likely a top-notch engineering team, It’s Good should be simple and fun to use.
The User Experience
At the moment, It’s Good is an invite-only platform. According to articles online, Legend and Rosenthal have been working on the app for four years.
So, the initial idea is to lay the user foundation ahead of its public launch. Logical, since it would be challenging to sift through recommendations without a core user group populating the app first.
“Our mission is to be your go-to place for saving & sharing your most favorite places to eat and drink. Trustworthy recommendations for you, by you – from the people you know or admire, all in one beautiful space,” reads the waitlist confirmation email I received from Shirene Niksadat, It’s Good head of community.
Interestingly, one of the motivating factors behind this platform is Legend himself. Apparently, he’s a go-to source for recommendations amongst his friends.
“My friends always reach out to me for ‘my list’ of restaurants in the cities I’ve visited,” Legend is quoted as saying on the It’s Good website.
From what I can gather, the platform will allow people to find new restaurants, bars, and experiences via location-based and themed lists. I’m sure there’s more functionality, but the main takeaways are:
- organized recommendations;
- personalized recommendations from trusted sources and friends; and
- recommendations that answer a simple question: Is this place or experience good?
“We believe a restaurant rec from 1 trusted friend is more valuable than recs from 10,000 strangers,” says the It’s Good site, right at the top.
That should give us all an idea of how this platform will operate, and what to expect when it goes live for the general public.
Obviously, I can’t provide a review of this review platform. But I can say that I’m looking forward to my opportunity to take it for a spin.
To get your name on the waitlist, click here.
