SORAYA DARABI ON SOCIAL PLATFORMS
Food-recommendation startup Foodspotting seamlessly integrates the killer apps of the web’s favorite tools, from Foursquare’s location-awareness and game mechanics to Flickr’s photo sharing. But, as cofounder Soraya Darabi put it in her presentation to Fahrenheit 212, the ambition is more along the lines of a Pandora for food, as the app increasingly becomes focused on layering location-based guides over user recommendations to provide a powerful recommendation engine fueled by content creators and consumers alike. And the opportunity for user engagement is huge: New Yorkers, Soraya says, eat out an average of 1.5 times a day.
Foodspotting comes across as a mash-up of the best of what the app store has to offer in part because its founders have their fingers on the pulse of the digital crowd – Soraya especially has long been known for being ahead of what’s next in social media. Before joining the start up world, she launched the New York Times’ social media presence in 2007. In June 2010, she was featured on the cover of Fast Company as one of their 100 Most Creative People in Business.
Click here to visit Foodspotting’s website.