How Social works

Social helps you decide where to go in Saskatoon and what to get when you're there. Tell it what you're up to, or tap a suggestion, and it comes back with a few good options, each with a reason to go.

Three options, not a list

You don't need fifty places to scroll through. You need a few that fit right now: open, close enough, right for the night you have in mind. So Social shows you the three that fit best, numbered on the map. Ask for something else whenever you like. Sometimes there are only one or two, because we'd rather show you two good ones than pad the list.

Every reason has evidence

A place is on Social because it's known for something: a dish, a happy hour, a patio, a room that works for a big group. Each reason shows what backs it, so you can judge for yourself. No single voice runs the city. A reason shows once two different kinds of source agree, or enough people who went back it, or it's a Social pick.

Where the reasons come from

  • The places themselves. Their own websites, menus and event calendars tell us what's on the menu, when they're open and what's happening. That proves a dish exists; it doesn't make it good.
  • Our picks. We made Social and know the city's food and drink well. Our picks are marked "Social pick" wherever they appear.
  • Local creators, soon: a small group of Saskatoon food creators, credited and linked, with any gifted visit marked as one.
  • People who went. After a night out, people in a plan can say whether a place lived up to its reason. Those quick checks add up over time.

Software reads, a person decides

Software agents do the legwork. They read places' websites for hours, dishes and specials, and they notice when something is going stale. They only propose. A person approves what goes on the map. The one exception is a plain fact quoted word for word from a place's own site, which goes in by a fixed rule, gets checked afterwards and can be undone.

A language model may help read what you type, but it never writes Social's answers and never invents a place, a dish or a special. Everything you see comes from our own data.

Places can't pay to be on Social, to rank higher or to be picked. Not now, not ever.

Local first

National fast-food and coffee chains are left out. You already know where they are. Sit-down chains have to earn their spot like anyone else, and local places are marked as local.

Made by Lusterworks

Social is made in Saskatoon by Lusterworks (opens in a new tab). How we handle your information is on the privacy page.

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors, via Protomaps. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada. Place data from Overture Maps and OpenStreetMap. Some event listings from Ticketmaster. The buildings with their heights are free to download on the map data page.