Standing out on the Internet isn’t easy. Sure, you have all your social networking profiles that feature plenty of information about your experience, achievements and expertise. But there’s just one little problem: That’s all self generated content. An endorsement on LinkedIn for your web design skills from your aunt just doesn’t hold much weight, does it?
That’s the realization that sparked the idea for WhoQuest, a new reputation and search engine platform that was founded by launched this fall in public beta. By focusing on individuals’ positive qualities and strengths, the site hopes to establish a talent resource of sorts: A database for the best of the best in every industry.
WhoQuest, which was founded by Flagship VentureLabs in Cambridge, encourages people to vote on their network of friends, associates and acquaintances by answering user-initiated questions. As a result, users are privy to insights about people in their circles, as well as themselves.
CEO Ray Lian explained that WhoQuest mimics the way in which people search for anything they need - whether a product or service - and applies that approach to people. When you’re looking for an awesome restaurant, book, movie or vacation spot, you’re looking at reviews and other crowdsourced information. That’s the philosophy behind WhoQuest: You trust a vouch if it’s from other people, not from the individual in question.
The WhoQuest team decided that making this information available via a search engine could be highly valuable for networking, marketing and hiring purposes. But they knew that the site must be approached in a totally different way than other similar sites. After all, when it comes to people, you can’t just slap a five star review on them.
As such, it was decided that users should be able to vote on their peers anonymously so that they can offer more honest answers regarding their capabilities. Here's how it works: Anyone can ask or promote a question, as long as it starts with “who.” The more answers you give to these inquiries, the more rankings and results you can unlock about yourself, your social circles and beyond. WhoQuest only displays positive topics and questions, and only shows results for the top 30 percent of people that have been voted on by peers. The result? It’s far easier for the cream of the crop to stand out.
Lots of possibilities
The potential for such a site is endless. Journalists could use WhoQuest to find sources, casting directors might search it for talent, and students could leverage it to seek out mentors. Thus far, the team has been testing out the technology with different audiences and tweaking it since the alpha launch in October, and now they’re ready to begin introducing it to different schools around the Boston area. After all, college students and recent grads are often in the most need of help when it comes to professional exposure and reputation building.
“A lot of them are underserved by LinkedIn,” said Lian. They don’t have the full professional experience used to generate a compelling resume or profile - and frankly they don’t know how to put one together. But they have skills and qualities that could make them valuable to a potential employer and distinguish them from their peers.”
Most recently, they ran a pilot program at Emerson College to find out who would be a good actor for a comedic video about WhoQuest, and had over 70 people participating to narrow the options down. The startup has also been collaborating with BostonTweet on a Best of Boston campaign to compile a list of movers and shakers in the city of Boston - some of them unsung heroes that have flown under the radar but are accomplishing amazing things.
Now, the plan is to expand WhoQuest to other local student populations. In order to build out the platform with new users, Lian noted that the company will rely heavily on Twitter for targeting certain groups of people. The team added that as people get recognition, the goal is to also help said individuals further promote themselves.
And lookout for a potential app down the road: Lian emphasized that another WhoQuest priority is to make it convenient for users to conveniently interact on the site right from their smartphone or tablet.
