Qype

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Qype GmbH
Type	Private
Founded	2006
Headquarters	Hamburg, Germany
Key people	Stephan Uhrenbacher, CEO
Industry	Business ratings and reviews
Products	Qype.com
Employees	approx. 17^[1]
Website	www.qype.com www.qype.co.uk www.qype.fr

Qype [kwaɪp] is a Hamburg-based web 2.0 company centered around social networking and local reviews. They currently operate websites in Germany, the United Kingdom and France.

1 Company history
2 Site features
3 Members
4 Scope of reviews
5 References
6 External links
- 6.1 General
- 6.2 Articles

[edit] Company history

Qype was founded in summer 2006 operating solely in the German market, however it was soon extended to include most European cities. In March 2007 Qype was awarded the Red Herring 100 Europe award.

In June 2007 Qype UK was launched, thus adding English to the interface and content. Towards the end of 2007 the website was translated into French, in anticipation of the launch of Qype France.

[edit] Site features

Qype hosts an online database of user-generated reviews of local businesses in Europe. Users can add new places to the database, upload photos, review places in German, French and English and engage in community activities. Qype maintains a wide-ranging category system listing everything from cosmetic surgery to gay bars. Within this category structure all places are listed in rank-order, with the ranking being based on user rankings. Selected reviews are also presented in the weekly Qype newsletter, and on city and country pages.

There is a de-facto reputation system, where users can see which members are the most popular, respected, and prolific contributors. Users can also check out who shares their interests or indeed their opinions of specific places. Qype fosters the community with events for members at local bars and restaurants, as well as with special events for Qype members that have reached the "insider" status.

Qype's features include:

Private messaging
Tagging other members' reviews as "helpful" or "well written"
User-created city guides
User-created groups/forums
Lists of "friends"
Google Maps display of other venues in the vicinity

[edit] Members

Qype offers a directory for anyone to search for businesses or read ongoing discussions on existing entries. Certain features, such as the ability to contribute a review, or add a comment to a discussion, are available only to users with verified accounts, which are free. Those members whose contributions have been recognized with a certain number of feedback points are promoted to "insider" status and receive a visual marker in their profile, as well as additional invitations to real-world events. Business owners may participate in the site as well by contributing company profiles.

Feedback points are awarded for contributing new reviews, adding photos to a review, receiving "helpful" or "well written" comments by other members, building a contact list and inviting new members to Qype.

User profiles include a standard set of attributes such as photographs and several fields relating to the user's location, hobbies, preferences etc. Qype allows wide latitude for personal expression on the site and does not routinely moderate or censor content. Some innocent playfulness is tolerated, such as reviews of non-businesses ( e.g. private stories, public art and memorable weather conditions), especially if they include associated photos and receive positive reviews of other peers. However, the company strongly encourages members to participate in a sincere and mature way. Abusive or improper behaviour is strictly forbidden and can result in the deletion of the respective profile and its content, as well as possible legal consequences.

[edit] Scope of reviews

Users may review any local business that provides products or services, as well as places of interest such as public gardens and beaches for example. In a high-usage city such as Hamburg or Berlin a large percentage of all restaurants, bars and retail stores are listed with often numerous reviews and there is considerable competition among users to be the "first to review" a new establishment (for which the user also receives an extra feedback point). There is also considerable coverage of professional services, medical providers, automotive services, cultural venues, hotels, museums, parks, attractions, government services, etc. Users may add new businesses and update business information if they notice any missing or incorrect coverage.

As Qype does not take on the responsibility for the content of reviews, it is up to the users contributing material (reviews, photos, comments etc.) to ensure the legality of the content (e.g. regarding copyright laws). Spam, including unmarked self promotions, is prohibited, as are the use of offensive language and comments on private individuals. Comments on professional positions (lawyers, doctors etc.) are allowed in principle, but are subject to local laws. This rule set is described in the Qype Code of Conduct^[2].