Person Hunt
Photo by Maryta on EyeEm
Discover Interesting People and Yourself
Shivering, I was sitting outside waiting for a friend. We had lots to catch up on, so a little bit of a chill was worth it.
As we sat and talked, it became clear that no matter what I had done, he continued to see me as he did the first time we met. I shook my head and thought to myself, “as humans, why do we do that?”
The same thing used to happen with Graphicly. No matter how long it had been since we pivoted away from comics, we were always (and would always be) the comic book company. No matter what pipeline, metric, new logo or shiny t-shirt we shared, we were the comic book company.
This is exacerbated by the Internet itself. Remember that screen name you chose for AIM back in high school? Yup, you are still CutePuppy97 to everyone that interacts with you. Our parents do it. It’s just easier.
When I got home, I tweeted:
https://twitter.com/micah/status/558821639333228544
And, as expected, there was no shortage of thoughts.
[embed]https://twitter.com/rrhoover/status/558822193761509376[/embed]https://twitter.com/tara/status/558824023199469568[embed]https://twitter.com/grmeyer/status/558827247042179072[/embed]
And, of course, the worry that it would be based on popularity.
[embed]https://twitter.com/tzhongg/status/558825042553757699[/embed]https://twitter.com/micah/status/558837645254488064
So what would Person Hunt look like?
The Issues:
Popularity: I think the greatest evil that social media allowed to happen was trasferring the importance of the popularity of the playground to the web. It didn’t happen because we wanted it. It happened because without virality, companies wouldn’t exist. What would Twitter be today if follower counts didn’t matter? It would be dead.
The Upvote: The Upvote, which is really meant to be a distinct act on a distinct post has become a popularity indicator. If my product gets more upvotes than your product, my product is inherently better, rather than generally liked.
Participation: Do you really want someone to post you and for others to vote and comment on you? It takes an amazing amount of self-awareness or Hulk-like thick skin to not be affected by the words of others. Let it go really only exists in song. The value has to be so clear as to overcome the potential for deeply hurt feelings.
Outcome: Is it just a manual, curated Klout? Clearly people hated being rated.
The Value:
Self-Knowledge: I care deeply what people think of me. I long realized that if I am ok with me, then I won’t do anything to effect a change in their view, but dammit, it still hurts (or is rather exciting).
Learning to Take a Fucking Compliment: Raise your hand if taking a compliment freaks you out. *raises hand* I still have no idea how to respond (other than *thank you*). Imagine getting 10 positive comments on Person Hunt? Holy shit, that freaks me out 10x.
Changing Perception: I have 30+ tattoos. Not one devil, religious symbol or boob. I hate shoes and pants make my knees sweat. How much does that effect how people think of me? Imagine if someone only knew me as “That Tattoo’d Guy” (like my neighbor used to call me) and read that it turns out that I am a pretty damn good product guy. Perception has to change, right?
Right-sizing Self-Expectation: I am pretty sure that I can excel at whatever I want to excel at, but what if I get 10 comments that are “Micah thinks he is an amazing ballerina, but c’mon dude, stick to what you do well. Eat a donut.” That is fantastic feedback and certainly would drive my expectation of my self.
Discovery: The number one, most difficult problem in recruiting is getting to the undiscoverable gems. I once heard a story that a top engineer wasn’t allowed a phone or published contact information for fear he would be poached. I have seen about a dozen companies working on this problem. Two were mentioned in this twitter conversion: Poachable and Dunwello. It is a hard problem, and I respect that. How better to uncover the gem, than to have them shared by friends?
[embed]https://twitter.com/ErikTorenberg/status/558822039146864642[/embed]
It is Not Just Jobs: It’s easy to think that People Hunt would focus on the job market (easy to monetize), but Erik is right. It could be match-making, play-dating, etc. But, it also uncovers the hidden gems in our social and professional circles.
https://twitter.com/micah/status/558842205683474432
People Powered: When I started #followfriday, I just wanted to discover new and interesting internet friends. Marketers killed it, but in the beginning, it was magical. It worked because it was curation + reputation. If I recommended an idiot, you would stop caring.
The User Experience:
Given I have thought about this for about three hours, there are a lot of holes in the experience, and I’d love for thoughts to be left here.
Here is what I do know:
Can someone post themselves? Nope.
Should it be a popularity contest? Nope.
Should someone be posted without their approval? Nope.
Should the person get a chance to engage in an AMA (Ask Me Anything)-like discussion with reviewers? Probably.
Here is what I don’t know:
https://twitter.com/micah/status/558837645254488064
How do you make it not a popularity contest? Perhaps it is in the design. Perhaps upvotes are hidden or refreshed daily. Maybe they only appear if the reviewed person allows it. Who knows. Thoughts?
How do you keep the dicks where they belong? Do you need heavy moderation? Maybe the original poster becomes the moderator. I don’t want Secret or YikYak (when did those become the same thing?); I want truth born from respect.
How do you direct the conversation so its valuable? Do you allow the person the first comment so they can outline what they would like to gain from the exercise? Or maybe a short description about themselves?
I honestly believe that done right, this would replace my Linkedin profile. Recently, I hired a resume writer to help me make it look better. I wanted an outside party to help me see what I couldn’t see in myself. It’s not updated yet, and much of it is just thrown in there, but its atrocious. It’s hard to read; it doesn’t explain who I am or what I have done, yet people seem to keep connecting to me (well over 5,000 at this point). Why? It provides only information about where and what I have done. There is nothing about if I am good at it.
There is a lot to think about. I hope someone builds this.
Of course, comment away. I will approve all comments, and if some of those comments are about me, well, that would be brillz.