If you are the kind of person that likes to keep track of your social experiences via mobile device while on-the-go, there’s a new app that will allow you to check in, review, tweet and comment all in one central location.
Bizzy, is a mobile application that allows users the ability to share mini-reviews while in real time and obtain recommendations for new places to try whether in their backyard or while traveling in new locations.
Gadi Shamia, founder, president and GM of Bizzy started playing with the concept of a social media driven, location-based application about four years ago when he was on vacation with his family. While at TMC’s Executive Editorial Open House in San Jose, CA (News - Alert), Shamia, exclusively told TMC that after staying at a bed and breakfast, he promised the owner he would write a review based on her excellent service when he returned home; however he forgot, and by the time he remembered, the name and location of the inn, as well as the details of his experience, slipped his mind.
Shamia created Bizzy with the notion that users can check out, rather than in (such as Foursquare’s (News - Alert) feature) after their visit to a restaurant or other retail location, and comment on their experience while it is still fresh in their brain. He described the app as the love child of Yelp, Twitter (News - Alert) and Foursquare since it integrates familiar features from each application.
However, Bizzy provides its own social media-sphere to allow users to comment in real time on experiences by adding comments, pictures and reviews while engaging with other users who may not necessarily be in their proximity or list of friends.
In addition, unlike social media and review sites, the Bizzy team focuses on being involved with their application to enable it to grow. In fact, Shamia is so involved, that he and his team are currently in the middle of a roadshow that invites bloggers and regular Bizzy users to meet them in designated locations around the country to network and “check out” venues together.
While the Bizzy Check Out America Tour 2011 is already underway, Shamia and the Bizzy team will still be hitting cities like New Orleans, Atlanta, New York City and Boston this month to interact with the application’s users and collaborate to create reviews of their own.
Shamia noted that in order to create a personalized experience for users, review applications in the market need to lower the bar regarding its standards for reviews; that’s exactly what Bizzy has done, and with large numbers of users already, the company’s model is clearly working.
“To have a service with results, you need to participate,” Shamia said. “You have to be willing to break the rules in order to make it effortless to check out and submit a review.”
Stefanie Mosca is a Web editor for TMCnet. Previously she worked as a freelance copy editor for Digital Surgeons LLC. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Quinnipiac University and a bachelor's degree in communication from the University of New Haven. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Rich Steeves