Since we began working on our startup we’ve heard numerous stories from people who needed Karma to exist.
These personal accounts have clearly defined the need for better access to honest information about people. The purpose of this post is to outline the various ways value can be created by reading and writing honest information about people.
Thank Someone
Humans Of New York’s Brandon Stanton asked President Obama “Who has influenced you the most in your life?” To which the President replied:
“My mother. She had me when she was 18 years old, and my father left when I was one year old, so I never really knew him. Like a lot of single moms, she had to struggle to work, and eventually she also struggled to go to school. And she’s really the person who instilled in me a sense of confidence and a sense that I could do anything. She eventually went on to get her PhD. It took her ten years, but she did it, and I watched her grind through it. And as I got older, like everyone else, I realized that my mother wasn’t all that different than me. She had her own doubts, and fears, and she wasn’t always sure of the right way of doing things. So to see her overcome tough times was very inspiring. Because that meant I could overcome tough times too.”
When we thank someone publically we add real value to their lives and the lives of those who wish to learn about them. Humans Of New York is an amazingly uplifting project, but it’s primarily driven by one man and a camera. Imagine all of us could easily broadcast information about people in a way that added value to the individual, and wisdom to the crowd.
I recently lost my wallet before it was handed in by a person who wouldn’t accept a reward. So I did the obvious thing and thanked them profusely. And while that’s a nice thing to do it offers very little value to the individual in question. Imagine if in addition to a verbal thanks I could write a short open letter stating:
“John handed in my lost wallet and refused to take a reward, what a great guy!”
This information is immensely valuable because anyone wanting to learn about John can immediately know that he is the kind of person who will return a lost wallet. And this knowledge is likely to lead to positive opportunities for John in the future.
Learn About a Person
Many people have told us that they wished there was an easier way to learn about others. Existing social networks aren’t great resources for learning a person’s true character and competencies. And that’s a real problem in an increasingly hyperconnected world.
Who should you work with, go on a date with, or let babysit your kids? Unless we know a person’s true reputation it’s often extremely difficult to properly answer these questions.
Before the rise of civilisation, humans lived in small tribal communities whose members were intimately connected. Acts of kindness, bravery, or malevolence affected everyone. Reputations were anything but private. Remaining anonymous, or only revealing a tiny part of our reputation while interacting with others is a modern phenomenon.
The problem with existing social networks is that they allow us to appear in the world the way we want to be seen. But there is a reason people read the reviews on Yelp rather than the testimonials on a restaurants own website. Authenticity is increasingly important to people online. But how is authenticity created, how do we access the truth?
Today the best way to learn about events, products, services or organisations is by reading third party reviews written by independent people. By tapping the wisdom of crowds we are able to make better decisions. We already live in a world of crowdsourced data with regards to all kinds of things, it’s time we carefully added humans to the list.
Warn The Community
One demographic we’ve spoken with are people who’ve been harmed by others.
These individuals want to prevent the spread of harm and they are often frustrated by an inability to do so. They are also motivated to help correct unethical behaviour.
Our friend, Mike, rented his apartment out only to have the tenants trash the place. Legal recourse was one option to him but it’s time consuming, potentially expensive and there’s no guarantee that you’ll actually recoup losses. Mike really wanted to warn others so they could avoid the same negative experience. We imagine a world where Karma will equip us to do that.
Mobilise Reputation
My three younger brothers and I grew up in a small town in South Africa where our parents were entrepreneurs.
We call my dad The Mad Scientist. He’s a highly creative and eccentric guy who’s built all kinds of businesses, some have been epic failures and others have been successes, but it’s always been obvious that my father is happiest when he’s around family and solving problems. My mother is one of the most generous people I know. In South Africa she dedicated large parts of her life to the local community by supporting important social causes. She was a schoolteacher and a nurse before joining my Dad in business. My parents have fantastic reputations in our hometown in South Africa.
But when they immigrated to Australia nobody knew them. So in terms of their reputations they were starting from scratch. It was frustrating watching them struggle to make friends and find opportunities. I think that many organisations could have benefited from my parents experience, but local businesses were totally oblivious to this resource that was available to them. I often wonder how different moving to a new country might have been if all the goodwill my folks gained in South Africa was easily knowable to people here.
When you do a search in your web browser for “reputation is”, Google predicts the next word will be “everything”. We intuitively know that our reputations are incredibly valuable, but even as human lives increasingly move online and the world becomes one large village, reputation is still mainly transmitted by word of mouth, or locked in a small network of personal friends and contacts. Not having a reputation that is mobile is a global problem, and it’s one problem we think Karma can solve.
Building this company continues to be a fantastic challenge and we regularly remind ourselves that we are genuinely fortunate to be working on a project we wholeheartedly believe in.
If you’d like to join our mailing list please sign up at the foot of this page, or contact us on hello@karma.wiki if you’ve got questions about Karma.
Cheers,
Clyde
