Many consumers may find restaurant reviews and ratings less than reliable, especially when they’ve never met the reviewer. A new iPhone application, Cloudy, allows users to connect online with friends and family by sharing their opinions about the restaurants, bars and venues they’ve visited.

Mark Davis, one of three Cloudy co-founders, said the key concept behind Cloudy is to give users access to opinions regarding restaurants, bars and venues from their own social network, rather than from “random people on the Internet.” 

“A review on a bar, restaurant, movie, car, etcetera is so much more meaningful and trustworthy than someone you have no connection to whatsoever,” Davis said in an email.

Davis is responsible for the programming of the iPhone app and the Cloudy Inc. website. He said the idea of creating the app came to him when he was a student at Washington University in St. Louis. Davis said he thinks it’s easier to learn from friends about great bars or restaurants, rather than sifting through hundreds of Yelp reviews that lack any social context.

During the application’s early development, Davis said it was difficult to step back from the project and try to view the product as a consumer who had never heard of it. To gain a fresh perspective on the application, Davis said the team tried getting out of the office and talking to potential users.

“We’ve fortunately been met with a lot of positive feedback, as well as some critiques, that have led directly to improvements in the app,” Davis said.

While the original version of Cloudy was more of a “polling application” that allowed users to see what their friends thought about a certain subject, Davis said that Cloudy 2.0, which was launched in February of this year, narrowed the general search to focus on opinions of bars and restaurants.

“We noticed that throughout mid-2012 that most users of this new Cloudy seemed to be searching for and asking about things related to places — restaurants, bars, etc.,” Davis said. “So late last year we moved in the direction of focusing exclusively on places.” 

Davis, along with fellow co-founders Will Johnson and Chris Lo, also recruits “ambassadors” from universities to spread the word about the app in attempts to increase the number of college-student users. 

Milan Shah, freshman in Business, is one of more than 30 ambassadors for the company. He said he loves how Cloudy combines the idea behind websites such as Yelp and FourSquare and adds a “Facebook aspect.”

“Basically, Cloudy is a review base for your friends, and the friends of your friends,” Shah said. “What makes the app unique is that the reviews you read will be relevant to you, since the users are your friends and family — the people you interact with on a daily basis.”

Shah’s job as a campus ambassador is to spread the word about the application to different campuses in Illinois. He says he hopes people will begin recognizing Cloudy’s growth on campuses and its value as an innovative application.

“Right now the application is free, and the real beauty of it is that the more people who are on (Cloudy), the more valuable it becomes,” Shah said. “That’s why we are really focusing on attacking campuses around the area, so that people will begin to see their friends on the app.”

Cloudy currently holds a five-star rating on the iPhone App Store and allows users to see what the overall public opinion of venues are. Once more users begin to use Cloudy, the user-experience will become more personalized and they will begin to see their friends and family reviewing businesses. 

Cloudy also shows users places they can go, allows them to bookmark places they’d like to visit, and prompts them to visit places that match the restaurants they’ve already liked.

To make the application popular, Shah said he will be enlisting his friends to place flyers around campus and review the local restaurants and bars they regularly visit. He hopes these strategies will gain the attention of students and give them a positive experience once they try Cloudy.

“The real basis (of our efforts) is trying to create that virality effect,” Shah said. “What you are going to see in terms of marketing for the future is seeing Cloudy become visible on campus.”

As for the functionality of the application, Shah said Cloudy is extremely user-friendly. First, the application connects to users’ Facebook account so that they can see which of their Facebook friends have already downloaded the application. If their friends have not yet downloaded the app, they can invite them. Then, there are three simple actions that go into reviewing a restaurant, bar or venue: “Search, Check In and Review.” 

The process involves a user finding a business, checking in on the application once they arrive at the business and then posting a review.

Tiana Kosaka, freshman in Business, said she uses Cloudy anytime she goes somewhere new on campus. By using Cloudy, Kosaka said she easily finds places “off of the beaten path,” and avoids getting stuck in a “Green Street rut,” referring to the commonality of University of Illinois students to repeatedly frequent restaurants and bars on or near Green Street.

“I always check in whenever I eat at a restaurant,” Kosaka said. “I also like to go on Cloudy to see if there are any places I have not gone and bookmark those places if my friends have given them high ratings.”

Although the application is connected to a reviewer’s Facebook account, Shah said that Cloudy “check-ins” are not visible, adding to the app’s appeal.

“People don’t want to check into places on Facebook. It’s too public; that’s the whole social media,” Shah said. “(Cloudy) is creating the new, fashionable way to review places, see places you like and check into places, while putting it all under one app.”

Anna can be reached at [email protected].