A startup called

A startup called SendLove.to is launching a new people-rating platform today.

SendLove focuses on the drama of the divide between celebrities and “the rest of us." It allows users to send a “love” or “not so much” to public figures (politicians, athletes, celebrities, business leaders, etc.) through rating buttons at the bottom of articles that mention them.

Ratings are calculated across every mention in realtime, giving every public figure a public opinion score. SendLove tracks everything from the ratio of “loves” to “nots” to the amount of time people spend voting.

“We think comments are broken,” says cofounder Chris Lyman (green mohawk), who cooly slumps on a couch at VentureBeat HQ for an interview. “They get stale when the article is old and then the conversation dies.”

“On the face of it, it’s a ‘hot or not’ approach,” says Lyman. “But we are serious about this data and how we chart it, and how we tie it to issues. We’re getting to the point where our footprint is showing how articles change public opinion. We see early signs of interesting, prismatic analysis on how sources can affect public image.”

A mischievous glint comes to his eye: “I think we’re going to make some people uncomfortable in this business.”

The company is focusing on websites where users love to love and love to hate. The platform has between 45 to 50 invited beta testers, including Hot Momma Gossip, The Moderate Voice, and the Democratic Convention watch.

“It’s primarily resonating in political blogs,” says Lyman. “We want to affect the political process. It’s such an echo chamber, and then we show readers and publishers how they compare to the rest of the web.”

SendLove is trying to make comments move horizontally and vertically across the Web. Rather than letting a comment get lost in the fray, SendLove aims to make comments more visible.

“Seventy-two percent of people follow news because they enjoy talking with others about what is happening in the world," says the company's other cofounder, Corey Brundage (red/ blue spiky hair), citing research from Pew. He is the far more subdued of the two, and his comments come slowly and thoughtfully. “Publishers need more than comments sections at the bottom of articles to engage people.”

According to Lyman, the SendLove platform is making people read more articles through content re-discovery.

“We’re getting crazy numbers from our publishers,” he says. “Seventy-one percent page views per session increase. 150k uniques monthly, and that number explodes during big political articles. They’re getting a 41 percent increase in time on site.”

They are still working on finding the exact formula for success, but one of the biggest components appears to be public willingness to criticize and be criticized. When it comes to politicians, it’s clear this tool can be important in measuring accountability. With celebrities, it can be a fun way to measure their fame. But what about private people who happen to have an online presence, like your mom?

“People need more acknowledgement when they are great and when they are not so great,” says Lyman. “I haven’t seen it used for yelling at your mother. Actually, it’s been more of a love fest for private users.”

He reports nonpublic users average 98 percent “loves." Meanwhile, public figures average 58 percent “loves” and 42 percent “nots.”

“For nonpublic people, this is a way to say ‘you’re awesome,’ on the record and forever on a forum,” says Lyman.

SendLove isn’t worried about monetizing, yet. The company’s six employees are surviving off of a $500,000 friends and family round done earlier this year.

“I felt like venture capital pressures from day one would force us into early monetization,” says Lyman. “Publishers are thin on cash, so that wasn’t the best route to get attention.”

Lyman and Brundage come from the land of reality media, Los Angeles, so when they arrive for our interview, they've got cameras following them. They're in the process of filming a documentary with Ondi Timoner (director of the documentary “We Live In Public”, which focused on the life of dot-com entrepreneur Josh Harris, and his experiments with capturing life online, and won the 2009 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance).

SendLove contacted Timoner to see if she would be interesting in capturing the drama and comedy of startup life. They also wanted to practice what they preach.

“[Inviting cameras] was part of the thought going into this business,” explains Lyman. “Are we brave enough to be wide-open in the decision to launch this?”

“[Inviting cameras] was part of the thought going into this business,” explains Lyman. “Are we brave enough to be wide-open in the decision to launch this?”

SendLove, as you will see, requires transparency. Regardless of whether or not you believe these guys are really this colorful, they are putting it all out there.

We wrap the interview, and the camera crew breaks down in a rush to capture the SendLove creators as they head out into San Francisco.

“This whole process is mystical,” says Lyman, referring to the process of building a company from thin air, or documentary film making. It's hard to tell which.

“Startups are real drama. I would have had these cameras follow us even if we were located in Alaska. Either way, success or failure, these cameras mean we will get something out of the process.”