Culture Craver FAQ
Culture Craver FAQ
If you have another question that isn’t answered here, please email us at feedback@culturecraver.com so we can help you get the answer you’re seeking!
General Information
· How does Culture Craver define "culture"?
· Where can I access Culture Craver?
· How do I get better recommendations?
· What are craver points and what can I do with them?
· How can I contact Culture Craver?
Culture Craver’s Calculations
· If I "like" something on Facebook, does that affect my Culture Craver profile?
· Where do the critics’ stars and bombs come from?
· How is a custom score for an event calculated?
· How is the public score for an event calculated?
· Why are events ranked the way they are?
· How is an affinity calculated?
Signing Up
· What are the steps to signing up?
Ratings & Craves
· How do I rate or crave an event?
· What is the difference between a Crave and a Star?
· Can I write reviews of events?
· The events on my recommendation list aren’t interesting to me. What do I do?
· Why are there some events I can’t crave?
· What if I rate or crave something accidentally? How can I undo it?
· What happens when I crave an event?
Connecting with people
· How do I follow friends and critics?
· How can I find and invite friends on Culture Craver?
· Why am I following people I don’t know?
· How do I add someone to my network?
· What does it mean if someone is following me?
· What if one of my friends and I have very different tastes?
· How do I make plans with my friends?
Event Listings
· What if an event isn’t listed?
· How can I find information about a specific event I heard about?
· How do I find custom recommendations?
· How often do my recommendations change?
· What if I ever notice an error in an event listing?
Profile & Privacy
· What information is available about me to the public by default?
· What other information can I add to my profile?
· How can I protect my privacy?
Partnership opportunities
· How can I partner with Culture Craver to promote my event?
· What kinds of partnerships are available?
Features coming soon
· What features are in the works?
GENERAL INFO
What is Culture Craver?
Culture Craver aims to make you more culture savvy. We are the first social recommendation engine for arts and entertainment. We use your personal history of taste — and the tastes of the friends and professional critics you trust — to help you discover more arts and entertainment you’ll love and connect with friends over culture.
How does Culture Craver define culture?
"Culture" encompasses a wide range of arts, entertainment, and ideas. We believe culture should be defined as broadly as possible. We don’t want to restrict you to high art or to popular culture. Rather, we want to help you lead a richer life, full of more ideas and experiences. Currently, Culture Craver includes visual art, theater, film, dance and talks/readings/screenings in our database. We plan to add more to this in the near future.
Where Can I access Culture Craver?
You can access Culture Craver online at www.culturecraver.com or in Apple’s App Store. Once you sign up for Culture Craver, you will also be able to receive a weekly e-newsletter that summarizes your custom recommendations.
How can I get better recommendations?
Your custom recommendations come from three factors:
1. The craves and ratings of the people (friends and critics) you follow
2. Your affinity (historical agreement) with the people you follow
3. The level of debate about the quality of a particular event
Your recommendations will become better and better as you crave and rate more events and as you follow additional friends and professional critics.
What are Craver Points and what can I do with them?
You earn Craver Points when you crave, rate, follow, share, and take other actions on Culture Craver. See a full list of ways to earn points here.
Points are a great way to flaunt your cultural expertise! There is a leaderboard on the app and at www.culturecraver.com/buzz where you can track who has the most points this month. Plus, you can get special deals and access based on the points you earn. (This is a program that is just starting; it will get better over time.)
What is Buzz?
Buzz is where you can see a feed of what has happened recently in your Culture Craver network and beyond. You can see what the people you trust have recently craved and rated; who they have followed; and what extras, photos, and comments they have added.
How can I contact Culture Craver?
Please send feedback, questions, ideas, to: feedback@culturecraver.com.
CULTURE CRAVER’S CALCULATIONS
If I "like" something on Facebook does that affect my Culture Craver profile?
Your recommendations on Culture Craver are calculated based on what you rate and whom you follow on Culture Craver. If you "like" something on Facebook, you must also rate it on Culture Craver for it to show up on Culture Craver. Please note that if you crave or rate an event on Culture Craver, you can choose to share it to Facebook and we will post it for you.
Where do the critics’ stars and bombs come from?
Culture Craver reads each review (twice), analyzes it, and gives it a star, meh, or bomb based on how positive or negative it is. If you see a star, it’s a positive review. If you see a meh, it’s neutral. If you see a bomb, it’s negative. You can always click "read more" to link to the original article and read it in full. If you ever notice a star, meh, or bomb that you think was given in error, you should contact Culture Craver at feedback@culturecraver.com so we can review it.
How is your custom score for an event calculated?
Each Culture Craver user receives a unique score for each event. This score is a custom "likeability" score for the user representing how much he or she will enjoy the event. Scores range from 1 to 100. If an event has no score it means it has not yet been rated by anyone in the user’s network.
Your custom score for an event is based on the craves and ratings of an event by the people you trust, adjusted for your affinity with each person in your network who has craved or rated the event. For example, if you are following ten people who have rated a movie and you have historically agreed most of the time with two of them, sometimes with six of them, and never with two of them, your score will factor in all ten ratings, but it will give the most weight to the two by the people with whom you have the highest affinity and it will hardly count the two by the people with whom you never agree. The Culture Craver algorithm also considers the level of debate about an event’s quality.
Please note that when people you trust crave events, the events receive a positive boost in your recommendations. In this way, craves can create early buzz for events about which users are excited — even people have been able to attend events and decide whether they stars or bombs.
How is the public score for an event calculated?
The public score is an average score for an event based on all the opinions of ALL the people on Culture Craver who have craved or rated it. Your custom score might be higher or lower than the public score, depending on your tastes and the preferences of the people in your network. If you notice an event has a public score but that you have no custom score for the event, you might want to add to your network people who have reviewed it who you are not yet following.
Why are events ranked the way they are?
On Culture Craver, events are listed in order of how much you will enjoy them based on the opinions of your friends and trusted critics. When you visit your list of recommended events or when you seek something specific (such as upcoming art exhibits), the event with the highest score for you goes at the top of the list, followed by the second highest score, and so on.
How is an Affinity calculated?
Your affinity score represents how much you have agreed over time with another user. That is, when you both see the same event, do you both give it stars, or does one of you give it a star and one of you give it a bomb? If you always agree, your affinity will be close to 100. If you never agree, your affinity will be close to 0. Affinity also takes into account how many events you have rated in common with another user.
SIGNING UP
What are the steps to signing up?
The sign up process is quick. It’s designed to help get you ready for the Culture Craver experience. Here’s how it works:
1. You either sign up using your Facebook credentials or by using your e-mail and creating a password
2. You rate or crave events to help Culture Craver learn about your tastes
3. Culture Craver matches you with professional critics whose taste is similar to yours. These critics make up your "starter set" on Culture Craver and help to generate your initial recommendations.
4. Finally, you have the option of finding or inviting friends to Culture Craver. This is a good idea because your recommendations come from the people you trust, so it’s good to be surrounded by friends.
Please note: if you choose, you may bypass the "rating" step in one click. If you do this, we will match you with popular and prolific critics to get you started and you can rate later.
RATINGS & CRAVES
How do I rate or crave an event?
You can rate or crave a movie, play, art exhibit, or other event from the Search (on the app, this is the center button in the navigation, marked with the Culture Craver logo) or from anywhere you see the event listed. Click the HEART to crave an event, the STAR if saw it and liked it, the MEH if you saw it and feel neutral, and the BOMB if you saw it and disliked it.
What is the difference between a Crave and a Star?
CRAVE an event if you want to see an event but haven’t seen it yet. STAR an event if you have seen it and loved it.
Can I write reviews of events in addition to rating them?
Yes. Once you star, meh, or bomb an event, you have the option of writing a review. You can review something right away or by visiting your profile and clicking on "add a review" beside your rating.
The events on my list aren’t interesting to me. What do I do?
Your recommendations come from the people in your network. If you are not following people who are seeing and rating events that interest you, chances are you will not be interested in the recommendations you receive. Go to the Trainer (in the "More" menu on the app) to find lists of Critics and Friends to follow. Beside each name you can see your level of affinity with each.
You can further hone your recommendations by rating more events. The more you rate, the better Culture Craver understands your preferences and the better recommendations it can provide. You can rate a lot at once in the Trainer, or you can add ratings as you see new events.
Finally, if an event is recommended to you, you should click the "x" in the corner to indicate that you are not interested. If you click this, it will not show up in your recommendations anymore and will help Culture Craver learn more about your preferences.
Why are there some events I can’t crave?
When live events (such as talks/lectures, art exhibits, plays, or dance performances) end, you can no longer crave them because you can’t go to see them anymore (even if you want to!). However, you can still crave films that are not in theaters since there are other opportunities for viewing them (on DVD, on Cable, streaming, etc.).
What if I rate or crave something accidentally? How can I undo it?
You can remove a rating if you change your mind or if you rate something by accident by going to your profile and pressing "reset" beside the incorrect rating.
You can remove a crave by clicking the crave button again on the event page or elsewhere on the site. When you "un-crave," you will see the check mark inside the heart disappear. The next time you go to your list of Craves, it will no longer be listed.
What happens when I crave an event?
When you crave an event, it is added to your crave list.
Additionally, when you crave an event, it rises on the radar of the people who trust you. So you help to create early word-of-mouth about an event.
CONNECTING WITH PEOPLE
How do I follow friends and critics?
To add someone to your network, press the plus mark beside his or her name. It will change to a check mark, which means you are following the person. The person’s name will appear on your profile in the list of people you are following. (To un-follow, press the check mark. It will turn back into a plus sign. The person’s name will be deleted from the list of people you are following on your profile.)
How can I find and invite friends on Culture Craver?
Using the app’s "More" menu, you can find and invite friends or add recommended professional critics. You can also find friends by emailing them through the system or by importing your contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, or Facebook.
Why am I following people I don’t know?
Your network contains friends you have selected as well as critics. During the sign up process, Culture Craver matched you with a group of professional critics whose taste is aligned with your taste to get you started on Culture Craver. You can un-follow them at any time, but the more people you follow, the more diverse and accurate your recommendations become.
Who is in my network?
Your network is made up of all critics and friends you follow. Build your network for more personalized recommendations from the people you know and trust. See the list of people you are following on your profile page.
How do I add someone to my network?
All you have to do is click on the plus button next to his or her name. Press the button again to un-follow.
How do I remove someone?
You can easily remove someone from your network. All you have to do is click on the plus next to his or her name to undo the follow and remove him or her from your network. Please keep in mind that Culture Craver corrects for your affinity with the people you follow. So, if you are following someone with whom you rarely agree, that person’s tastes will not have much influence on your recommendations. Rather, they will help to add diversity without steering you to events you will dislike.
What does it mean if someone is following me?
It means that you are very culturally savvy and that someone trusts your taste! If someone is following you, you influence his or her recommendations. This will not affect your recommendations unless you follow back.
What if one of my friends and I have very different tastes?
If you’re following friends whose tastes don’t align with yours, it’s OK! Culture Craver adjusts your recommendations for your affinity with the people you follow. So, if you are following someone with whom you rarely agree, that person’s tastes will not have much influence on your recommendations. Rather, they will help to add diversity without steering you to events you will dislike.
How do I make plans with my friends?
Plan It is a feature on Culture Craver’s website that allows you to invite friends to a cultural outing with you. From any event page or from your custom home page, you can create a plan. This is coming soon to the app. For now, go to the website to create a plan. First you select an event you want to see. Then you choose the dates you are available. Then you invite your friends to fill out a poll and see which dates work best for everyone. The results are displayed in a table on the Plan It page, where there is also a chat feature to interact with everyone invited.
EVENT LISTINGS
What if an event isn’t listed?
If you find an event that isn’t listed, you can "Add an Event" from the More menu or from Search. When you submit a new event, you and other users will be able to crave, rate, comment, etc.
How can I find information about a specific event I heard about?
If you type the event’s name into search, you can find any event that is in Culture Craver’s system. (To find search on the app, press the center button with the Culture Craver logo and the search tool will appear.) From the event page, you can get details on the event (including where, when, and ticket price) plus context-building extras. You can also read reviews of the event from people in your network.
What is an Extra?
An extra is an article, a podcast, a photo, or other information that helps to build context about an event. These are crowd sourced — added by you and other Culture Cravers.
How do I add extras?
To add an extra, click on the "Extras" button on any event page. Click the "add an extra" button. Then, submit anything interesting you see on the Internet relating to the event. It can be a slideshow, an interview, a behind the scenes feature, or whatever you find exciting.
How do I find custom recommendations?
Using the filters (which you access by pressing the square filter button at the top right of your "My Lists" page), you can filter by event type, when it comes out, location, price, and more. This will sort your list so you see only what you are seeking, ranked in order of how highly it is recommended to you. you to a list that you can further refine by checking on categories that you’re interested in.
How often do my custom recommendations change?
Your list will recalculate every hour.
What if I ever notice an error in an event listing or a venue listing?
Let us know! Email us at feedback@culturecraver.com. We’ll fix the problem as soon as possible.
PROFILE & PRIVACY
What information is available about me to the public by default?
By default, the events you have rated/reviewed and craved, your photos, your comments, as well as which cravers are in your network, are available to other Culture Craver users. (Your email, your birth year, and your gender is never shared. Your culture calendar, your Plan Its — on the website only — and your personal crave list tags are also kept private.) You can change your privacy settings if you want to keep your opinions private. Do this in the "More" menu, under "Settings."
What other information can I add to my public profile?
If you choose, you can add a picture of yourself and a quick blurb to your profile.
How can I protect my privacy?
From the "Settings" tab on the "More" menu, you can choose to hide all of your tastes from the public, hide your craves from the public, or hide only your dislikes from the public.
PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
How can I partner with Culture Craver to promote my event?
We can help you reach your most likely audience members. Culture Craver can create special contests and promotional campaigns to help you promote your event. Please e-mail us at partner@culturecraver.com to talk about potential partnerships.
What kinds of partnerships are available?
Culture Craver is interested in working with like-minded organizations that serve people who care about culture. Opportunities include:
· White Label versions of our mobile application for festivals/conferences or for hotels or arts councils
· Contests/promotional campaigns to generate interest in upcoming cultural events
· Custom smart listings for groups, powered by Culture Craver’s data and recommendation algorithm
· Featuring arts organizations’ listings or media organizations’ content on Culture Craver
· Featuring your brand or representatives as "featured tastemakers" on Culture Craver
FEATURES COMING SOON
What features are in the works?
· Additional cities, beyond New York
· Additional culture verticals, including music and books
· iPad and Android and mobile web applications
· Rewards and special access for users
