In this weeks App Focus, we are delving into Thumb, a real-time opinion poll.

credit: thumb

Formally known as “Opinionaided”, Thumb is a social network driven by the purpose of helping other users out. Originally developed as an opinion based shopping aid, Thumb has grown to encompass questions of all categories with a strong community of supporters now connecting with each of other to deliver sound advice.

Questions are based on a ‘thumb up – thumb down’ method, however there is also a box in which the user may write a response to the question. Good advice may be rewarded by the poser of the question, who can mark your responses with Gold Stars if he/she feels you contributed to the question well. Gold Stars act as a validation of the user ultimately – when a user has earned sufficient stars in a particular category, they are credited as a ‘Top Advisor’. It’s a neat system and I found myself finding getting hooked on answering questions.

Hunting for Gold Stars

Perhaps what is most impressive about Thumb is the speed of the responses when a question is posed. To give an accurate and slightly mind blowing idea of the speed to which a question is answered: immediately before starting this paragraph I posed the question “Excited for Star Wars 3D or should they just leave it alone?”. At the time of writing this sentence there have been 84 votes and 16 comments…

Responses are quick... really quick

Users can link with other users who responded to their questions, this can turn into full on discussions or a simple ‘thanks’. If someone routinely seems to be helping you out, you may request them as a friend. By having friends on the network you can target your questions specifically to them, this again adds a level of recognition to the quality of their advice.

Thumb is a great service that can provide hours of entertainment as well as some legitimately useful advice. I did encounter a few annoying questions, especially in the technology category with people just badmouthing one company whilst praising another, but these questions can be breezed past quickly and do not particularly take away from the experience.

Thumb is available now on the App Store and the Android Market.