Why does advice from other people matter?
Searching the internet is easy now. Knowing whose opinion to believe—for you—is harder.
Your own preferences are the foundation. Advice from a friend or expert you already trust can make the answer better. That's the multiplier—not a giant social network you have to feed.
People already pay for chat over a trusted source (askJancis is one example). The scarce thing isn't more search results—it's knowing where a recommendation came from.
The hard part of old recommendation apps
Recommendation networks have a supply problem.
Asking people to write reviews, tips, or lists creates work before the network provides much value. Apps like Foursquare tips, Yelp friends, Path, and Nuzzel ran into versions of that problem—among other reasons they struggled. Supply was hard to sustain.
Old ask
Write the review. Maintain the list. Feed the network.
What I'm testing
You already said you loved it. May that help someone you've said yes to?
Trust here is declared—Maya marks Leo as someone whose restaurant taste she trusts—not an algorithm claiming “similar taste.” Figuring out affinity automatically remains unsolved.
A few people, with reasons
Not a giant friends list—a small circle she chose.
Maya’s neighborhood
Shared and connected through the graph
Extracted context links people who matter—so Maya and others can decide with judgment that already exists nearby.
Maya · her context
Visiting CDMX · prefers quiet · avoids dairy
Anniversary trip · held back
Leo · childhood friend
Loves food · childhood friend · Maya marked his restaurant judgment as trusted
Quintonil + Contramar excellent · Pujol too formal · quiet-night shortlist
Sofía · CDMX food blogger
Maya found her on TikTok
Quintonil quieter tonight · dairy-free handled well · Roma Norte energy
Who said it beats how popular it is
Why this is different from “ask ChatGPT to research restaurants.”
ChatGPT can already produce a good list. What it can't do alone is weight that list by people Maya specifically trusts.
Population model
Many records → one segment
Segment-level prediction
“People like Maya choose Pujol.”
Scale finds similarity.
Context can establish relevance.
With Si
A few trusted sources
Maya
Quiet · dairy-free · tonight
Leo
Maya trusts his restaurant taste · recent visit
Sofía
Local read · current
↓
Permissioned, attributable judgment
↓
For tonight
“Quintonil fits—and here’s why.”