“Girl talk” goes digital with man-rating app for college women

If women want to find out who to call for a good time, scanning the walls of bathroom stalls for a phone number is no longer necessary. Instead, they can download an app to discover how men are rated in sexual prowess, manners and willingness to commit. 

Lulu, an app launched in February 2013 based out of London, allows female Facebook users to create and browse reviews of their male Facebook friends, while male Facebook users can only view an abbreviated version of the reviews. Deborah Singer, Lulu’s spokeswoman, said in an email that Alexandra Chong created the app as an outlet for “girl talk,” designed primarily for women in college who are 17 and older. 

“We started with colleges because they’re established networks with close groups of girls who are willing to share with each other about sensitive topics, such as relationships,” Singer said. 

Through the app, women can rate their ex-boyfriends, past hook-ups, friends or relatives. They can select men’s profiles and anonymously answer multiple-choice questions about them to formulate a review. For instance, one question asks “Moms typically think he’s…” and lists options, including “bad News!,” “a sketchy guy,” “a nice enough guy,” “a solid guy” or “a perfect guy.” 

Next, women select positive and negative hashtags they think describe the men. For instance, they can select hashtags such as “#AlwaysPays” or “#CheaperThanABigMac.”

Based on women’s responses, the app generates an overall numerical rating from one to 10, along with more specific ratings in categories such as commitment, appearance, sex and humor.

Brent Malin, an associate professor of communication who studies media, technology and gender, said that college students are frequently test markets for social media and new technologies before companies expand their products to wider audiences. 

He compared Lulu’s targeting of the college-aged group to Facebook’s focus on college students.

“Facebook was not much different from Myspace, which was already in place, except that it was really targeted toward college students, and it also made little worlds that were kind of exclusive,” Malin said. “In the early days of Facebook, you would be on your Facebook just at your university.”

Malin also compared Lulu to restaurant review sites such as Yelp, but said that rating men is less effective because of the sheer number of them.

“There are a lot of restaurants in Pittsburgh, but there are not as many restaurants in Pittsburgh as there are college-aged men,” he said.

According to Singer, Lulu is different from Yelp because women cannot submit comments about a man. They can only select from answers generated by the app to rate someone. 

“Girls today get references for everything in their lives — colleges, jobs, housing, restaurants. They also want references for the most important area — their relationships,” Singer said.

Malin said that women who hold a negative view of a man might be more motivated to post a review. He added that a profile with more reviews increases the accuracy of the ratings. 

“I would imagine that if someone ended up with a lot of reviews, that would be most useful,” Malin said. 

According to Singer, Lulu’s goal is to unleash the power of girl talk, and allowing only women to share anonymously about their experiences with particular men is critical to this mission.  

“There’s a lot of social science research that shows girls feel more comfortable sharing about sensitive subjects like relationships and sex in same-sex environments,” Singer said. 

Matthew Anderson, a sophomore physics major, discovered that he had been reviewed on Lulu after reading an article about the app and wondering what girls were saying about him. He asked a female friend to check the app to see if he had received any ratings, and she let him browse his reviews.

Two women reviewed Anderson several months ago, and he received a 7.3 out of 10 overall. He said that he believes reviews on Lulu can’t necessarily be trusted. 

“I’ve seen other guys’ profiles as well, and I know that some of the nicest guys I’ve ever talked to, dealt with and that are my friends have a 2.3 [on Lulu] because somebody really didn’t like them,” Anderson said. 

Anderson said that it was nerve-racking to discover his information could be viewed by others without his knowledge, especially because reviews might be inaccurate. 

“There’s stuff that can be out of your control, and people can say things that really aren’t true,” he said. “I think even though it can be used as a positive thing, it can also be used to slander somebody.”

Women can click “agree” or “disagree” buttons on posted reviews, according to Singer, to weigh in on the truthfulness of each rating.

Singer assured that Lulu’s usage of male users’ Facebook information without their consent complies with Facebook’s terms and conditions. She added that men have requested for women to review them on Lulu, but that a Lulu employee will remove profiles of men who request not to be reviewed.

Malin said that Lulu is just another option for people to find potential romantic matches in the digital age. He added that college students often research a new person who they meet on Facebook or Google before actually getting to know that person.  

“Once upon a time, if you met someone at the bar, you’d either have to ask people about them, or you’d actually have to talk to them,” he said. “If you know someone by seeing their internet footprint, looking at their tweets and looking at their Facebook profile, maybe you decide that you don’t want to know them or maybe you do.”