You may still get on Facebook and Twitter to respond and engage with your customers. But could it be that someday soon you won’t be using these social channels to share content or connect with those in your niche?
The founders of the Heard social network are banking on this. And they have created a tool, available on the Web and through several mobile apps, they hope will prove it.
Heard is among tech startups participating in SXSW Music, Film and Interactive 2015 in Austin. The event began last week and runs through March 22.
The Heard Social Network
Different Than Twitter or Reddit
In an email interview with Small Business Trends, Heard co-founder and CEO Dave Vronay explains what sets his platform apart from social sites and aggregators from Twitter to Reddit.
“Heard does not require friends or followers to give you personalized recommendations,” Vronay says. “We continuously compute the relevance of each piece of content to each user in real-time so you never have to worry about stale feeds, irrelevant content, or being at the mercy of some voting majority.”
No Personal Information Shared
In addition, Vronay says the Heard social network also side steps the controversial sharing of private information common on social sites like Facebook.
Instead, Vronay says Heard shows users streamed content as it is shared and matches users with content based only on behavior — mainly what content they choose to view.
Over time, Heard is designed to get better and better at anticipating and highlighting content users find interesting based on the content they selected in the past.
Vronay says the Heard social network system was inspired by the one Netflix uses to select content viewers may want to see next based on viewing history. In fact, Vronay’s co-founder, Heard Chief Technology Officer Ruben Kleiman, created the “classifier” currently used by Netflix to personalize viewer experience.
How To Share Content on the Heard Social Network
Content on heard can be shared in one of two ways, Vronay says.
Users can post content in one of the platform’s open channels based on topic. For example, Vrony says someone wishing to share content related to tech might post on the open Tech Industry Channel.
But Vronay says Heard has also begun to work with content publishers to create their own channels on the platform. At SXSW 2015, Heard announced partnerships with the Huffington Post and digital comedy site Funny or Die to create their own channels. And the company says other potential channel partners are welcome to reach out to Heard to participate as well.
Adding Some Credibility with Badges
To add credibility to users posting on open channels without sharing personal information, the Heard social network uses a system of badge verification. The verification protocol allows you to identify yourself as a employee in a particular industry or for a particular company (Apple, for example.)
However, the verification does not collect any additional information when you sign on.
“While the big sites like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are practically falling over each other in a race to see who can aggregate personal information on their users in the most egregious fashion, Heard requires nothing,” Vronay explains. “You don’t even need an email address. When your identity matters, you can use badges. When it doesn’t, you can be completely anonymous.”
Image: Video Still
I can see how this might benefit large, national business entities, but the small and medium-sized business is simply bound to be lost in the shuffle, especially if their services are geographically restrictive (ie, local coffeehouse or print shop). For those folks, sticking with the social tools they currently have (for now) might be a better use of their time. Better to invest that time and money into some good, old-fashioned PR.
Heard
That is the case with most platforms for sure, but on Heard, our philosophy is that every piece of content has an audience. That audience could be 1 or 1 million people, and our platform makes sure the right people see it, even stuff from small and medium-sized business
I don’t like the anonymity piece. I’m sure they’re being inspired by Snapchat and such, but I believe the internet needs verification and accountability as well. This seems like a panacea for spammers and reposters.
Heard
Anonymous is OK with a reputation and content matching system, which we have.
The more people who like your stuff, the more it will spread to others. On the other hand, if you post a bunch of spam and junk you will quickly find you are only talking to yourself.
Also, if you want to securely add verified credentials to your posts, you can with our badging technology.
Aira Bongco
but like most social networks, the problem is really about going mainstream. Most of them have great ideas but people have to see it to be of value so as to adopt it as a part of their daily lives.
Andrrea Smith
Sounds intriguing and innovative. Definitely worth a look. Privacy is key, but seemingly more and more difficult to maintain.
Vanja
Thank You for sharing this information. I have never heard about this network before. Hope that It will help me with my stuff.