Forkly Is The Social Network For Foodies
forkly (Free) by forkly is a new, social way to find and discover tastes all around you.
Currently, you will need to have a Twitter account to be able to use Forkly, however, the developers are currently working on changing this in the future. So if you do not have a Twitter account, keep your eyes peeled for an update.
If you're a foodie and love social networks, then this is a great app for you. The bottom of the app has a menubar that will serve as your way around the entire app. There are five sections: Feed, Discover, Taste & Rate, Activity, and Profile.
What's a social network without friends to follow? You can view your Twitter friends that are already on Forkly by going to Feed and then tapping on the "Add Friends" button. This will show your friends that are already sharing their tastes and give you the option to follow (or unfollow, if you choose). Once you have followed them, their activity will appear in the Feed view.
In addition to viewing Friends' activity, you can also view Featured. From my observations, it appears that the most recent tastes and ratings appear here, not "most popular" or anything like that.
Tapping on any taste that is posted on Forkly will allow you to view a larger image of the food (if there is an image provided by the user), along with the name of the food and where it's from. If you find something that interests you, you can even "want" an item for easy finding for later, or "taste & rate" if you've actually tried it.
When posting your own tastes, Forkly users are also able to rate items on a scale (Loved It, Liked It, It's OK, and Not For Me), add an optional note (how did you like it) along with a photo (who doesn't love "food porn?"), and even share the post on Twitter or Facebook.
Now, if you are like me, you probably like to try out new places. Forkly does just that in the Discover view. This allows Forkly to use your device's GPS location to find popular places around you (with a search radius from half a mile to one, five, 10, or 25 miles). You can also filter it out to Food & Drink, Food, or Drink only.
Of course, the real potential with Forkly is when there are a lot of users in the area using the app, since this is a crowd-sourced app for finding tastes. If there are other users in the area, you'll be able to find popular places with photos that could entice you to check out the restaurant or café (or whatever it may be). Getting real photos from other people like you is the real draw here, not fake photographs that sometimes never represent the actual dish (don't lie, you know what I'm talking about).
Whenever you get a new follower or "want" on your tastes, you'll be notified through the Activity tab. On your Profile, you'll see how many tastes and wants you've had, and how many people you follow and are following you. In addition to this information, you'll see your "Influence Points," which are earned by sharing items for others to discover. You'll earn more whenever someone "wants" one of your tastes, your taste becomes popular, or when someone tastes & rates something through you and rate it as "Loved It" or "Liked It."
People who are influenced by you and you're influenced by will show up below your most recent tastes, and there will be a link to your Twitter profile.
In the end, Forkly is a great crowd-sourced way to find what is good at a place near you. It's also a nice way to see what your friends like to eat or drink, and get ideas for what to try on your next night out. Not to mention that the app is beautifully designed, as well.
If you're a social foodie, then definitely give Forkly a try.
