GeekWire app of the week: Yabbly

GeekWire’s latest episode was taped before a live studio audience at the HUB Seattle, so they brought in the big guns: app creator Tom Leung.

Leung’s app Yabbly is designed to help people make smart purchases. Instead of going with the same old product descriptions and customer reviews, Leung says their tool is more about finding the specific product that would be best for you.

“We kind of take a different approach and we say, ‘why don’t you start with describing your specific need,’ then other members of the community are matched to help you make a better decision.”

Of course there are other services out there, like Decide.com, that help consumers consider their options. But Leung says it’s the active human component of their service that sets them apart.

“We’re all about people helping each other and having real dialogue, versus scanning lots of data,” says Leung. “Decide is more like a Google approach, lots of math and scientists, and we’re more like a Facebook approach, which is ‘how do humans help each other and give each other advice and have some reciprocity.'”

The information you receive on Yabbly is driven by other humans, and Leung says they make an extra effort to make sure information is coming from the most helpful humans.

“It doesn’t take too many people who are not that thoughtful to really taint a conversation,” says Leung. “Our approach has been let’s really be careful with the seed community that we start with and make sure the foundation really stands for authenticity, thoughtfulness, and very constructive conversation.”

See if Yabbly’s community can help you with your next purchase. It’s available for free in the app store.

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