LOCALFAVE Launches Friend-to-Friend Review Service Today at SXSW

AUSTIN, Texas, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --  LOCALFAVE announced their official launch today at South By Southwest (SXSW), giving users a review service that provides high-value, location-based venue recommendations, while simultaneously allowing users to remain discrete.  "High-value" is derived from the fact that reviews are strictly based upon information most relevant to the user – the opinions of friends. 

"Location-based services are so helpful, but the average user may not want to explicitly share their location as many services require," said Vishal K. Gupta, CEO of localfave. "At localfave, our goal is to provide a vehicle for our users to rank and categorize the places they've been in the past and to share their experiences easily with friends. That's localfave. It's a location based service for everyone."

The "fave" mechanism surfaces when a venue is given a review above four stars, at which point the service automatically flags the venue for the user.  If more than one venue has been given a rating above four stars, the service challenges an individual to pick their "fave" in a given category (e.g. "Which Italian restaurant is your fave?"). Users can then share this information, from their local neighborhood or global destinations, with others friends using the service.  And in turn, users are also able to explore the world through the advice and past experiences of their friends.

Pat McCreary, CTO of localfave, "We've noticed that it is harder and harder to discover truly great venues. One person's 5-star review, is another person's 3-star. This is the reason we created the idea of a 'fave'. Ultimately, knowing that your friend's favorite sushi joint is around the corner is much more important than knowing that it has averaged 3.5 stars." 

Not only does localfave allow individuals to know which friends have been to a given venue, but it also provides an integrated Q&A service that allows them to communicate with their friends in real-time.  "There is a degree of serendipity when you realize you're sitting at one of your friend's favorite places.  But with localfave, you can now communicate with any friend that has been to that venue.  You can move beyond serendipity to informed activity," said Vishal K. Gupta.

localfave is available now on iOS devices, with a full HTML 5 Web service available at www.localfave.com.

About localfave

localfave is a mobile and web solution that provides users high-quality reviews from the people they trust – their friends. localfave makes it easy for users to keep track of places they've been and which places are their favorites. Using its integrated Q&A service, you know where your friends have been and can post questions to them real-time.

localfave is headquartered in the East Village in New York City.

For more information, go to www.localfave.com.

About the founders of localfave

Vishal K. Gupta, CEO and co-founder of localfave
Prior to founding localfave, Vishal was vice president and head of US-listed options business development at the electronic trading desk of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Vishal graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and attended Columbia Business School.

Pat Mccreary, CTO and co-founder of localfave
Prior to founding localfave, Pat was the head developer behind the US-listed options business development at the electronic trading desk of Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.

Pat graduated from Rutgers University.

SOURCE LOCALFAVE