Since almost every social site claims to be unique, yet there are several floating around that seem to mirror each other, we have come to understand that often ‘unique social site’ in reality means, social site with a unique name. So when I came across Reference.me, I gave it a shot, but without any genuine expectations for uncommon features.
Trusted Networks
We have other social sites that rely on trusted networks. LinkedIn immediately comes to mind. Currently the largest business social network online, LinkedIn has over 120 million users. Many people use it to connect to business partners and other colleagues, or even employees and customers.
While most of us likely have a LinkedIn account and profile, accept or decline contacts on a daily basis, and even update our profiles when business opportunities change, we usually stop just short of using our LinkedIn profiles outside of a social bookmark on our website or link on our email signatures unless we are in the process of actively building on that network.
How Does Reference.Me Work?
Your trusted network on Reference.me actually comes with a very impressive visual reference of who your trusted network represents. It differs immediately from other social networks in one specific way. Log in is only integrated with Google + currently. However, once signed up, and logged in, you can still easily integrate your Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. Integration with LinkedIn will also fill out many of the details, work references, education, and skills on the Reference.me details tab.
There is no messaging on Reference.me, no activity streams, groups, or anything else you may be called to join in, or at least not yet. That doesn’t mean that Reference.me doesn’t have a shining quality or two at this stage in its development game.
Reference.me Pros
The site already has a great setup when it comes to a quick list and profile viewing opportunity with a few different filter options. Arranging your network by skills, location, companies, strongest connection, or even alphabetically supplies users with the ability to quickly locate members in their network that may not be so readily available on the top of your network. This layering feature is absolutely unique from any other social business network available on the net currently. It provides a more in-depth look at how the rest of your network functions with their own, giving potentially more elaborate insight if browsing the networks of perspective new hires, new colleagues, or even consumers.
The references system on Reference.me is impressive, as well it should be on a social site with such a URL. Grabbing a reference from their system is as easy as clicking on a name and choosing the big tab that pops up. Under the tab you may also see that the source is already a trusted one for you, or that you may need to request them to join your network so that they too receive trusted status on your Reference.me account.
Reference.me Cons
Reference.me cons are as mostly as listed above. There is no messaging on Reference.me, no activity streams, groups, or anything else you may be called to join in, and for this reason Reference.me may not be seen as a full-bodied network that promotes major interactivity.
Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be what the team at Reference.me is going for. Reference.me seems like a great place to send a prospective client, employee, or consumer when they ask for references, whole references, and nothing but your references.
Author:
@BasilPuglisi is the Executive Director and Publisher for Digital Brand Marketing Education (dbmei.com). Basil C. Puglisi is also the President of Puglisi Consulting Group, Inc. A Digital Brand Marketing Consultancy that manages professional and personal branding for Fortune 500 CEOs, Hedge Fund Managers and Small Business Owners.
Sources:
Thanks Basil,
I had actually signed up for this a month or so ago and had left out my rolodex card (where I keep the name, username and password for all my online materials). I meant to check it out again to remind myself what it is for. I have about.me and many other profiles. So I wanted to see just where it fit in the scheme of things.
I appreciate your explanation so now I understand its place better in the scheme of things.
Alison
Thanks for the detailed description of this; it seems like I’m hearing about one new social media site per day and the help sorting them out is appreciated.
Thanks a lot for sharing and explained the details nicely to make understand easily!! Its really help me a lot to upcoming days !!
Hi, thank you. I had no knowledge of these sites previously. It’s very interesting.
I think I will give this a shot. It sounds easy enough to use and pretty unique. I would have probably never heard of it if I didn’t come to this site. Great Review. Posting valued references will now be a breeze
Great review. I signed up. Then I read some other posts about how reference.me will spam everyone in your connected email addresses. Yikes. I quickly deleted my account.
Even if the spamming was a glitch that is now fixed. I don’t really see anything new here. Great interface – and some smart technology, to be sure. But what’s the upshot? In the end, it’s another social networking site that does little to advance your cause. Check out solidreference.com for a truly unique alternative.