Recently I spoke with Mark Erza of Honesty Online, which is trying to bring trust, accountability and safety to online dating.
At first glance, Honesty Online looks similar to other background check companies which have been vying for a slice of the online dating market for several years now.
Mark took me through the process of getting credentialed on a demo system, which resulted in some problems but overall I was impressed with the process.
The core differentiator between background checks services is the experience of using the system, the portability of the credential and the price. Every background check provider says they have the best data. HO is no different, they get their data from the same places as the competition.
There are gaping holes in coverage across the US, and forget about Europe. In short, these solutions are suitable as a first line of defense, but I am concerned about the false sense of security that online daters might feel as they browse “certified” members on their favorite dating sites.
The missing information is reputation. Reputation magement has not taken hold of the online industry as of yet, a few scattered sites but no single repository of reputation data.
There are many background check companies vying to do business in the dating and social networking market. It seems as though Backgroundchecks.com and Honesty Online are in position to sew up these markets between themselves. Both have deals coming together with our favorite dating and social sites and I’m looking forward to being certified (crazy or sane, I want that icon that shows people I’m the real deal.)
In order to try and find out who I really am, Honesty Online quizzed me about zip codes and addresses that I had back in college. It’s fascinating to see this information dredged up from some digital abyss, I started going down memory lane in the middle of the demo, trying to remember the names of friends that used to live in my building in Brooklyn.
The quiz adapts to your responses, if you get a question wrong, it will ask you other questions. Credentials are good for one year, which seems to be an industry standard.
Honesty Online will make additional revenue on the velvet rope upsell- requiring matching credentials to see other people, more thorough checks, etc. If they add a reputation system, I can’t see why dating sites wouldn’t use the service.
I mentioned that Honesty Online powers the Mate1 background check system a few months back.
I’ve thought of doing a shootout between various background check companies, is this something you would like to see here?
If your site uses HO, or you have something to say about background checks, leave a comment and let’s keep the discussion going.
