Hashable | Track Your Social Capital
At my first sales job I remember being told to go out and engage, develop relationships and TRACK everything. Although tedious at times I learned that having an up-to-date CRM (Client Relationship Manager) allowed me to see where I was at with a client, what we talked about and when we met last. At a networking event I collected cards, inputted data and scheduled follow up meetings. This was not only imperative for my success as a rep, but also for the success of my company. Fast forward a decade and nothing has changed. We all still need a CRM but now networking has become much more virtual. As we make more and more meaningful connections through social outlets like Twitter there needs to be a way to track and quantify these relationships and truly tap into our social capital. The line between professional association and personal relationship has grayed more than ever and who we connect with in our personal time should have the ability to be quantified just the same.
Hashable, a NYC startup founded by Mike Yavonditte, plans to help you track those engagements either through twitter, email, their site or the new iPhone app. Hashable helps you track who you are meeting and introducing so you can see who your strongest relationships are and how you interact with them. It also allows you to see who in your area is connecting and who they have relationships with.
I had a chance to speak with Mike about Hashable and why it was created:
We built Hashable because our first project, Tracked.com, was not going to be big enough or social enough to make anyone happy. We thought there was an opportunity to build a new service, one that was fun and different. Hashable tracks relationships, not that person A is connected to person B. It’s truly different.
I inquired as to what new functions and updates were coming to enhance Hashable :
Lots of new stuff coming: Data Visualization (HashBytes), Android App, Local Leader boards and Streams, ability to see users ranked by title and Hashcred.
I also asked how he planned to monetize the service:
We are building a virtual currency. We hope to use that currency to reward users with more functionality, benefits and services.
Hashable is on the next wave of social graph game. Companies such as Facebook and LinkedIn have amassed large amounts of data on who we are all connected to, but have left out the most important part of the data sets; the strength of those connections. Hashable sets out to quantify who you know, how and when you connect and your relationship strength. If we put Hashable in the context of a ‘Social CRM’, the value is not only for a user but also the provider. Hashable will set itself apart with the ability to provide detailed information on how users connect adding many layers to the linear social graph we see currently. Advertisers will pay top dollar to be able to tap into a multi dimensional data that Mike and Hashable have begun to assemble. Maybe that’s why Hashable already has a $25-30 Million valuation.
Oh ya and for you new adopters Mike says that the Top 5 users in January will a trip to SXSW.
We are giving away 5 (expenses-paid) trips to SXSW to any user in the US or Canada that uses the service most in the month of January. Download our iPhone app or follow us on Twitter to get involved!
But you will have to beat me first!
