CamRate, a fun new lifestyle app, lets users take photos or share photos, add a name and a description, and rate it, and publicly share their rating. Then, you can see what others think about it, or rate what other people have uploaded. You can browse CamRate photos, follow users, or search for things you like. There’s an option to view the latest uploads, which creates a feed of pictures, sort of like Pinterest or Instagram, with the option to rate what you see. And users can also follow other users to see their rates. The userbase is small, active, and positive, so current users are using this functionality for finding shared interests and good photographers.
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he app is just so pretty, with a simple design that really shows off the user-generated photos, and uploading my own photos was easy. Items are rated on a simple 1-to-5 stars, a bit more granular than a Tumblr or Facebook like. Another CamRate reviewer, Viktoria Jean, suggests giving “5 Stars for Channing Tatum’s abs, and maybe 4 for Ryan Gosling’s, versus a simple Instagram “LIKE” for both”, which is a pretty great use for the app. I’m not saying I would scroll photos and objectify handsome men… I’m just saying if you wanted to post some more ab photos, I wouldn’t mind.
Amazon ratings are pretty polarized, shoppers tend to rate their shopping experience when it was great or miserable. So you have to read through and see which ones are from normal people. Is it all 5-stars from satisfied customers who loved this book, and some 1s from a lady who thinks the cover font is ugly? Or are the 1-star reviews from people who found this app crashed their phone, while the 5-stars are mysteriously all from accounts that only leave 5-star ratings and just happened to review a bunch of the same products? With CamRate, users are just sharing their favorite things (and occasionally unfavorite things!), so I haven’t seen as much polarization. I also looked really hard for angry or unkind comments, especially on items with a lot of different ratings, but I was pleasantly surprised when I couldn’t find any mean comments at all!
The CamRate userbase is small but growing. With a small group of active accounts, you can really different personalities uploading and rating, and changing the CamRate conversation. The intention seems to be to use it for fashion, by sharing photos of an outfit you’re trying on or a item you’re considering buying, and then getting ratings and comments on your style. But there’s also a fair amount of books, movies, foodstagram uploads, and random silliness shared for your rating enjoyment in CamRate.
CamRate is free, and available on iOs right now. Check it out and share your own ratings!
This post is shared with you in partnership with CamRate. As always, review posts are written by me, about my real opinions and experiences with the product.
Maia Sepp’s new novel 
There was just so much to love this book! Like the nerdy accountant, who really doesn’t want his relationships with his two wives exposed. He’s not a bigamist, that is, like most of my poly friends, he is just quietly involved with two people, and doesn’t want to discuss that at work. I also loved Camilla’s discussions of her work visa, because this is now my third (3rd) time going through the application process, and basically you hand in every piece of paper proving you’re not a criminal, that you’re a real person, and that you can legitimately do your job, and then after a while, you get back another terribly valuable piece of paper, saying you can work legally, that you promptly shove into a drawer and forget entirely. Which is exactly what Camilla does.
