If you are searching for a good site to figure out where to go or what to do in any number of cities around the world, you might want to try QYPE.CO.UK. Based out of Hamburg, Germany, this social site offers a vast range of services well beyond just where to eat (restaurants) and drink. The other services (read: tabs) include Health & Beauty (find a spa or hairdresser), Arts & Entertainment, Sports, Shopping, Events, and a whole bunch of “other” such as cemeteries to visit and how to take care of your pets.
To suit your fancy, you can customize your favourite tabs. Areas that I found of particular use: Tennis in Paris (although I’d rather if I could just find “good tennis partners”) and Babysitters (in Paris). In terms of search functionality, the search bar is effective; but, I also liked the point & click on a map search function. Also, if you have an iPhone you can also download their free Qype Radar application.
Areas of improvement for Qype 2.0: (1) make it easier to find out how to post a review….; (2) getting over the language hump — in a perfect world, some google translator would be working transparently behind the scenes; (3) the tagging — for example, if you go to the area marked “Children” there is very little. But if you go to “Events,” you will find an area called “Kids Activities” which should also be under the rubric Children. Presumably, this is incumbent on the reviewers and social posters.
The QYPE’s top countries (per its own selection) are:
- United Kingdom
- France
- Germany
- Switzerland
- Austria
- Ireland
- Spain
- Poland
- Brazil
For myself, I signed up and have put in a few reviews to see how it goes. Not too shabby. The functionality is all rather simple. To date, my friends are basically Qype employees, but I have launched myself into it and we’ll see how many show up for the gig. As with all these social sites, gaining critical mass is the heart of the matter. And then comes the famous tipping point. Qype does not seem to be there yet…
If you are asking why is it called QYPE? Here is what their site says: “Simply put, Qype is the quick, cool way to find and discover places based on the reviews and recommendations of thousands of people.” Qype is less about hype and more about another social media site with a useful function. It now has a sufficiently good (and growing) database and is worth the visit.
