Originally posted by tdtm82
My local has it. You need to change the mileage perimeter to cover more venues.
Yes, I see that your local has it (but nowhere else in Chelmsford). That’s not really any use to me. I repeat - there are only 13 venues in the whole of London that have it and most are places that I rarely visit. There are a grand total of 37 venues within the 75 mile limit that have it. You can’t seriously present the digital menu system as a really useful feature - in the UK at least - when the take-up is so piss poor.
They’ve only just released it. It’s an American app with little representation in the uk. The take-up don’t know it yet. It’s still very very new and bars are slowly aware of it. It takes a lot of time and dedicated to roll something out like this.
Hop Burns & Black posted that they had become an Untappd verified venue on 1 July 2016. So not exactly very new. Even if they were the very first that means just 12 more venues in London have signed up in the 21 months since. To say the take-up rate is slow would be something of an understatement.
Originally posted by chriso
However, I think the Untappd badges are a bit devalued by being too unchallenging to get. They come with such ease and regularity that they often don’t seem like much of an achievement. Getting a badge for every fifth beer of every style I drink seems rather excessive.
I disagree. Sometimes you have to be in two areas at once to get a badge for festivals. That’s a challenge. You also have to check in locations on FourSquare. Again if FourSquare isn’t right then you miss out. Also it has to be simple to keep the general user keen.
I have 1660 check-ins on Untappd and 628 badges. Not exactly challenging.
There are venues you have to check in to get a badge. Styles. Different places. We are dedicated beer hunters. The average consumer is not. It’s a badge-orientated app but there are hard badges which are limited and one-off’s where you can’t get a beer as you’re not in a distribution network or you have to fly to get it. That’s challenging.
Originally posted by chriso
However, I think the Untappd badges are a bit devalued by being too unchallenging to get. They come with such ease and regularity that they often don’t seem like much of an achievement. Getting a badge for every fifth beer of every style I drink seems rather excessive.
I disagree. Sometimes you have to be in two areas at once to get a badge for festivals. That’s a challenge. You also have to check in locations on FourSquare. Again if FourSquare isn’t right then you miss out. Also it has to be simple to keep the general user keen.
I have 1660 check-ins on Untappd and 628 badges. Not exactly challenging.
There are venues you have to check in to get a badge. Styles. Different places. We are dedicated beer hunters. The average consumer is not. It’s a badge-orientated app but there are hard badges which are limited and one-off’s where you can’t get a beer as you’re not in a distribution network or you have to fly to get it. That’s challenging.
So basically it’s the same when -for instance- you check on RB who have rated Pliny the Younger.
As I’m having a slow afternoon I thought I’d pitch in to the Untappd v RB debate as someone that doesn’t use this site for ticking or rating.
I do use Untappd and I like it for the following reasons: - most of my beer-loving friends use it, so I can chat with them about the beer that they are drinking very easily - it’s easy to use. So easy to use, it’s on my phone so I have it with me all of the time. Beers and venues are easy to find. I don’t need to write any notes if I don’t want to, I don’t even have to rate a beer if I don’t want to - it’s one way of seeing what beers places are serving (even if they aren’t verified). I can search recent check-ins to know what a pub has recently had on
I largely use RB for - the forums, it’s good for beer news and chat - the Places section, which is still my go-to site whenever I’m visiting somewhere new
Sure, there may be issues with the Untappd database but I’d wager 98% of its users don’t care. They just want a quick, intuitive way of logging beers and interacting with their friends.
I think that RB is a superb resource, but I do think it requires an additional level of geekery that a lot of beer punters aren’t that interested in.
I occasionally use Untappd occasionally as well, mainly because I have already existing friends on it (as opposed to friends I’ve met on RB). My beer friends aren’t interested in RB due to the commitment involved (as alovelydrop has suggested). Untappd is nice when I’ve already rated a beer but don’t want to change my rating, but still want to rate.
I also like RB as a ’safe space’... I wouldn’t want my girlfriend, ex-wife or work colleagues on here because I don’t want them to know how much I drink! So Untappd is a good ’beard’ for my drunkenness (but look, I only had 4 beers last month)...
To answer the original question ’Is RB dead?’ I would say that there are always going to be those of us who will not be satisfied with the level of engagement offered by Untappd (I’ve only ventured onto BA once so I can’t comment on this). I imagine that the time may come when I no longer have the time to rate every beer/place and then my pattern of engagement will change. But there will, somewhere, be a new RBian to take my place.
Originally posted by tdtm82 My local has it. You need to change the mileage perimeter to cover more venues. Additionally this app has no UK sales office and it’s all Americans giving a hard sale.
It was a very slow start over here in Copenhagen, but the verified venue pickup does appear to be growing quickly. From having only 1 or 2 venues the other month, checking the app within 1.5 miles showing 8 verified venues now including the likes of...
Himmeriget Mikkeller Viktoriagade Fermentoren Rbabarrab (Kihoskh new bar) Bootleggers
All showing full tap and bottle/can menus.
So it is gaining traction over here at least.
But in regards to the main question (not read the whole 17 pages of this thread) going by the amount of replies here - RB is certainly not dead :D
