Watch out, Yelp! All the cool kids are Foodspotting!

Chances are, you’ve heard of Yelp, have used Yelp for researching a restaurant, or perhaps you’re an avid Yelper (a “Yelp Elite”). I’ve been on Yelp for a couple of years now. I’ve written reviews, added friends, sent compliments, and bookmarked restaurants to try. Unfortunately, it’s not easy to sift through all the reviews on Yelp. A lot of them ramble on, so it’s difficult to find relevant information on the go. Yelp’s iPhone app hasn’t helped me much, either. As life get busier, I have less time to write thoughtful reviews or read my friends’. Yelp and I seem to be growing apart. Instead, I now rely mostly on word of mouth among friends when searching for good food. Lots of my Twitter friends are in the know when it comes to good eats, so all it takes is one tweet. Now the only reminders of Yelp are the emails I get, which I often delete without reading.

Lately, I keep seeing tweets from Christine Lu and Mona Nomura, titled “just spotted.” By following the shortened link, I arrived at a site called “Foodspotting,” showing photos of dishes they enjoyed and sometimes short comments. There was no clutter on the page, just great pictures of wonderful foods from everywhere, posted by people I know. Both Christine and Mona are smart, fun, and sometimes crazy foodies, so I knew I *had* to check out this Foodspotting thing. Mona hooked me up with an alpha invite right after I sent a tweet to Dan Martell. (Thanks, Mona! Love you!) As soon as I signed up and played with it for a bit, I knew that Foodspotting + Foursquare would most likely mean my breaking up with Yelp in the near future.

Why is Foodspotting so wonderful?

• Foodspotting is built for foodies, powered by foodies. People join Foodspotting to share their passion for eating and drinking. Nothing brings people together like food and drinks. It’s the great equalizer and uniter (is that a word?). I’m Chinese. I know this.
• A picture is worth a thousand words, and Foodspotting knows that. All the blah-blah-blah reviews in the world mean little without visuals, and it’s not easy to find good photos of actual dishes on Yelp. Foodies often tell each other about specifics, as in, “get good ramen at Fu Lin when you’re in Seattle,” so rating an entire restaurant isn’t helpful. I’d go as far as to say that foodies don’t even care so much about the surroundings or atmosphere. A hole in the wall? Yes, please! As long as there’s great food, foodies will brave the elements, fight traffic, wait in line and skip bathroom breaks to get to it.
• Foodspotting makes it all fun and games. Much like Foursquare, Foodspotting has a game/competition aspect, which adds to the fun. Points are earned for every “sighting” (post), and when others “want” (bookmark) or “nom” (tried/agreed) one of your sightings. There’s also the weekly “Top Foodspotters” board.
• It’s very simple to post and discover on Foodspotting. Adding a ”sighting” on Foodspotting is as easy as uploading a pic and tapping in a few characters. It will be even better as soon as the iPhone app comes out. Foodspotting also makes it easy to discover great new dishes or find your favorite foods when visiting a new location.

Of course, Foodspotting is still in alpha, so new and exciting things are happening on it everyday. I’m so glad to be part of its growth. If you’re serious about eating and take pictures of your food all the time, you’ll love Foodspotting. The good news is, as of November 23, there’s no need to wait for an invite! You can just join here: http://www.foodspotting.com/ilovefood Have fun, and happy eating!