VyB is the new-age review site taking on Yelp

For those that aren’t up with the lingo, everything these days has a ‘vibe’ or is a ‘vibe’. These vibes can be felt – and now into 2020, publicized to be shared with other vibe seekers. It’s incredibly Gen Z, but I love it.

The team at VyB (read: Vibe) have taken the review model of Google Maps and Yelp, but made it significantly more about the current atmosphere of a location. That is to say when I open up VyB, I’m given a map of my surroundings, with highlights over the bars, clubs, restaurants, etc that are currently ‘vibing’.

It works in such a way that if I’m at a location I’d like to review, I jump on the app and post my thoughts – the current ‘vibe’ of that location is then determined by an average of all the reviews in the last 6 hours. Positive review = a vibe. Negative reviews = not a vibe.

Businesses also have an ‘overall vibe’ that reflects their ratings over time, but the team at VyB are significantly more focused on the real-time nature of the app – giving you knowledge of where the action is right now.

An aspect that was stressed by the VyB team was the verification process. Reviews of a location can only be left if you’re physically at the location, which does a lot to prevent to potential fake reviews or otherwise blackmail by customers and competing businesses.

We’re unsure what technology they’re using for these verficiations, but they’re assuring us it’s more than simple geolocation, as that can be spoofed.

Here at CES, we run into quite a lot of people and products. We hear a lot of pitches and are approached more times than is possible to keep track of… One thing that stood out to me about the team at VyB, was that they are the demographic they’ve built this for – they completely understand their target market and know exactly how to sell it.

Keep your eyes open and look forward to where these kids take it into the future. They plan to expand out of the US and grow internationally sooner rather than later.

[ces20]