So I got the latest invitation several weeks back for Naymz.com. Yet again, I'm sure this newcomer is experiencing that sudden burst of hockey stick growth. The formula goes something like this:
1: Come up with a good concept (yes, I'll give you that) for an online networking or HR firm.
2: Create a nice easy to use interface - Web 2.0. style.
3: Get some early users to bang out the bugs - hopefully.
4: Create an incentive for inviting people (some way of giving them money, either virutal or otherwise, usually).
5: Turn on the linkedin / plaxo contact books APIs to get your first burst of users. (i.e. "invite your friends from linkedin.com! click here...")
6: Enjoy the Hockey stick growth of users signing up.
7: ? I don't know what happens next. Do these companies succeed? Probably too early to tell.
So starting at point 1 above, Naymz is addressing the age-old dilemma of one's online reputation. If we do more business transactions online, trust and similar intangibles become more of an issue. This has been addressed before on other website, but perhaps not with the singular focus (and community) of Naymz. After all, Ebay has a well known rating system for buyers and sellers, but this (last I checked) is tied to Ebay transactions. Zoominfo and pipl and lots of other info aggregation websites try to bring pertinent information together from across the web to establish credibility for a person. But Naymz seems different enough to mention.
At first blush Naymz seems a bit unique in that it is a community site designed solely around people vouching for one another, while many of the others try to reach across the Internet to ascertain reputation information. But even then, you can make a comparison between Naymz and Rapleaf, which both aggregates information and allows users to rate one another. Heck, even their seals of approvals look the same. Outside of this feature, Naymz doesn't seem robust enough as a community to attract people.
Liquid CV also has a "trust rating" function, but this feature is not broadly marketed.
Now, Naymz seems to have another trick up their sleeve: for a premium, they'll make you easier to find on the Internet via a custom domain and search engine promotion,. Hmmm. On one hand, this crosses over into promotion /advertising, but on the other hand it helps pull people into the naymz site and the reputation domain. They'll also give you identity verification for this premium. However, when I looked at the Naymz identity verification service, it was Trufina -- that is, another website. Trufina sells its serve for 4.95 USD (I think a one time charge), while Naymz wants premium users to fork over 9.95 USD monthly. If you use Trufina (and, presumably, pass the verification check), it gives you Naymz reputation points. Fehh. I'd prefer monopoly money.
For the premium price, there are also some reporting features about who has visited your profile, but I felt them rather boring. Maybe just because I didn't see much of a teaser on the features.
The classic Internet questions remain: can they generate enough buzz and autonomy? As a community site, I would suggest not. As a personal service for broadcasting your Internet image...well, maybe. But here Naymz is getting into the domain of Google and nameservers. Providing a one-stop shop service for both reputation and personal advertising, particularly with a smooth Web 2.0 interface, is an interesting idea. But...I don't know...I'm not convinced. You need lots of features and reach across many Internet services, and great execution, assuming you don't have your own value to add.
On a bit of a tangent: if you want to provide an API for other sites to Mashup with you, people have to know that it's worth developing an interface for your API to pull reputation information. Naymz isn't even suggesting this as far as I can tell, but Rapleaf already has this (as does Zoominfo). I would like to integrate with Rapleaf, but thus far the reputation information just didn't seem accurate enough , and there aren't enough users, for an effective integration with Liquid CV's user base. None of my early adopters on Liquid CV could be found on Rapleaf's search. Just not enough reputation meat out there for me to dine upon.
Well, I think there is some value that Naymz could provide, and they might have some success after the early hockey stick burst (provided to them on the back of linkedin.com and others). But, I guess I'm just not that excited. It's a mashup. I hate to say it, but I'm on the verge of giving this company another lukewarm review. I'm getting bored with the site already. And of course, the perennial problem persists: facebook, linkedin, xing and others can just create a reputation feature and eat the lunch of the little guy here.
I'll keep digging on the site, and put this on my list of companies and technologies to revisit (like the open social API, itzbig, and others) in a subsequent posting. For now, that's enough.
Thank you, this is helpful. I got a random request to connect via Naymz but wanted more information before I signed up. Your review gives me a good sense of what the company provides to help in that decision.
Posted by: Phil | July 28, 2009 at 04:03 PM