Blippr: Radically Short Reviews

I enjoy reading reviews on movies, music and books before I buy. I’m not exactly bringing in the big bucks and would like to find out if something is worth my time and money before I take the plunge. But have you ever found yourself reading a review on Amazon or iTunes thinking, “Okay, we get it. You have a lot to say. Just get to the point!” My friends, I have found the solution. It’s a website called Blippr, whose users provide “radically short ratings and reviews.”

Blippr has taken a page from Twitter and capped the number of characters you can use in your review at 160. That’s the max length of a standard text message. This forces all those typically long-winded folks to get to the point of the matter in a hurry. Even if I never felt compelled to write a review using Blippr I’d still want an account there so I could browse what others have said. I can type in a movie, album, book or video game I’m interested in and quickly get an idea of what people think of it. If I find a user who has similar tastes as I do, I can select to follow that user and will receive their reviews automatically within my profile.

If you find you want to share your opinion you are prompted to select one of four emoticons (representing “loved it,” “liked it,” “whatever,” and “disliked it”) and then to write your short review (or “blip” as they call it). How do you capture how your favorite movie makes you feel in only a couple of sentences? What about that video game you wish you hadn’t blown $60 on? Since I’m an aspiring writer I have found it to be an interesting challenge to use an economy of words and to select exactly which points are most important in my review. Rather than hampering my creativity I believe it is actually helping me identify and articulate my opinions more effectively.

It’s worth mentioning that Blippr isn’t trying to become the next big social networking site. Their goal is to integrate with previously existing social networks. They already have a Facebook application which does a great job of bringing your blips into the News Feed and Mini-Feed. Actually, you can do almost everything from within the application that you can do on the Blippr website. My hope is that some talented developer will make a great WordPress plugin so I can bring my blips to my website seamlessly.

Blippr is currently in private beta, which is a fancy way of saying they’re only letting a handful of people use the thing, listening to their feedback as they prepare for its public launch. However, you can get an account there the same way I did. I first heard about Blippr a few weeks ago in a post by FaceReviews.com. In that post they provide a link to get a beta invite email right on the spot. You’ll be up and blipping in no time! Update: As of July 25, 2008, Blippr is open to everyone without the need of an invite.

I highly recommend Blippr as a creative way of reading or writing reviews. You’ll find it to be both informative and addictive. Go get your invite and join Blippr today!