In Identity and Reputation as (Social)Currency I mentioned Dave Gordon’s startup, Tru.ly. The following is taken from numerous conversations with Dave in recent months and the tru.ly website.
The idea of verification on dating sites has been met with much trepidation by the community however there is an outcry from users for some sort of verification product that is not going to overwhelm or scare people from using it.
Tru.ly is offers an integration with dating sites that is easy to implement as a value add to the user. The Tru.ly solution takes away the notion of scary background checks and should be thought of as a profile enhancer, a way for the user to make themselves stand out among a sea of others.
600 million people on Facebook and Skype using their real names and you’re going to tell me that identity verification and its offshoots aren’t going to be big business? Please. You have to think social and work your way back to dating. Of course the two use-cases are different. But in the past it seems like companies didn’t get this. They sure do know.
Tru.ly simply verifies the information in a persons profile as accurate. The partner site is able to choose what information they want to validate, while keeping the users name anonymous. Attributes like age, sex and location are things that can be verified via the Tru.ly API. But this is only the beginning. I can’t go into detail, but as someone who has thought about identity for many years, there are so many added-value and revenue generation opportunities, well it’s ridiculous. Just considering Facebook credits as a virtual currency and tie that into the requirements for identity verification, I digress but holy cow that is going to make PayPal look like your local cooperative bank.
Dating sites, games, social networks, all these have some sort of reputation-based features. Getting your identity verified is the initial step that opens up a whole world of possibility. But everyone focuses on the background check or the identity verification process itself like its a set-it-and-forget-it situation. I say give them away, the money is in the follow-on services. Fine maybe that doesn’t work with RelyID at eHarmony, but thats only a couple hundred thousand people, a drop in the bucket so to speak.
As a profile enhancer , the Tru.ly API can be used for free, sites can also charge a monthly fee for keeping a users information verified. Tru.ly will allow sites to generate significant revenue if marketed appropriately (dating sites need some marketing help when it comes to identity verification services. Call me.).
Dave says that after spending considerable time talking with members of the dating site community it has seemed like “oh no not another one of these.” From what I’ve seen, Tru.ly is truly different (ouch).
The company is in the business of building the pipeline for online verified communication, across multiple industries. They have a product and want you to give dating site users a product that is both compelling and trustworthy, one that enhances your brand image and is able to make you money.
Step one: get them verified.
Step two: embed credential-based search filtering.
Step three: monetize the credential. Tru.ly says they won’t sell your data, but if it leads to better dates, deals and cheaper vacations, take me I’m yours. This is where the product development and marketing teams should be salivating. Not as much data as from Facebook Connect, but how long do you think until Tru.ly works with Facebook Connect? Then you are on Facebook and a dating site, verified, and companies and start pushing out functionality that drives higher interaction with their site, between people (remember, communication is a key part of the puzzle here) and beyond – think freemium features, VIP, enhanced profiles, and that time in the future when dating sites actually partner with search companies that can weed out the creepers and the inappropriate matches.
Dating sites will ignore all of this their peril. Things are changing fast and consumers are getting savvier faster than you are evolving.
Identity verification is exciting stuff: people want it, it makes companies money, and it leads to bigger and better things all around, including safer dating. Most dating co’s will probably look back at the historical impact of verification and not the forward-thinking opportunity. Hoping that is not the case.
Tru.ly is going to crush it in the social space anyways, I just wanted to get them out in front on your radar because they are great folks with a solid product that you should at least take a call with.
Read Tru.ly for dating sites for more information.
