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Every day we’ll be featuring the company that experiences the highest SI Rank growth. They can be anywhere in the world and in any sector. Welcome to data-driven tech journalism!
Today, we are talking about RateCred.
This application turns business reviews into a location-based social game. Users rate places nearby and earn credits for their reviews, which can include special offers or discounts.
RateCred stands out among its competitors, with an SI Rank of 1.29. It went up 0.24 points during the last month, due to the launch of the latest version of the android application. This startup is based in Oakland, California and it has been around since the beginning of 2010.
Once logged in via Twitter, users can rate restaurants, shops, cafes, bars, add their own personal comments and post the reviews on Twitter. The more they review, the more credits they earn, which include real discounts on local businesses.
RateCred tries to bundle reviews with gaming, social networking and rewards. A complex combination that shows how the location-based market still has many roads to explore, including rewards and targeted advertising. The success of RateCred will depend on how will they manage to keep their users engaged with the game, which emulates Foursquare’s basic principle of gaining credibility as a local expert. Many other services are already competing either for the reviews or the rewards market. Yelp and Zagat are references on the reviews market. Checkpoints and Reward.io are innovating on the rewards business, among many others.
One of RateCred’s advantages is the ability to sign in automatically in different networks (such as Foursquare or Gowalla) through the app. This is a feature that could help fight what some already call ‘check-in fatigue’, giving RateCred the chance to be the new place for local, personal experienced reviews. So far, the service is available in the United States only.
To know more about location-based services and check-in startups, take a look at our check-in sector report (coming soon). To order a detailed business report about RateCred click here