Hi Dave,
Do you really think these features are half baked, or are you just saying that to provoke me into posting on your blog? :)
Either way, I’m glad you’re still keeping an eye on us! Let me take a moment to explain some of our new features.
We didn’t create the iKarma Directory to compete with Google. We created it to enhance the way our users are found by the search engines like Google. iKarma profiles that were coming up at the bottom of search pages, are now showing up in the top 5. The same is true for our system of Tags. RSS Feeds are a basic component of our upcoming API and allows us to integrate with other services, not replace them. The Resume Post feature doesn’t compete with Monster.com, it enhances it. iKarma provides job seekers with a unique way to gather their references and enhance their Monster.com listings. Finally our email signature and contact wizards are simply tools that make iKarma easier to use that I believe help bring our service closer in quality to those services offered by Monster and LinkedIn. As much as you may like Monster, LinkedIn, Opinity and Rapleaf I think it is important to note that several of these companies have been moving as much in our direction as we have been moving in theirs. LinkedIn has started using “Check my Profile Seals” and has opened their listing so that they can be found by search engines, Opinity seems to us to have moved from a market model that looked like RapLeaf to one that looked like ours for a few months, and then on to one that now looks more like MySpace. Now it looks like they will loop back around and incorporate Rapleaf. RapLeaf seems to have started after TechCrunch.com reviewed iKarma and used Michael Arrington’s suggestions to us as their business model. But even before the TechCrunch review we announced that we were already working on a key based API for our enterprise edition. We still believe that our solution will be more elegant, scalable and useful as a sales tool than anything currently being offered. Our philosophy has always been to make iKarma useful as a friendly sales tool for business, rather than a cold tool for keeping score. We’ve always believed that the Amazon.com reputation model was more in line with what people want to see, and businesses could actually use than the cold score cards on eBay. We think we’ve been pretty focused and true so far to our goal of providing that kind of system to the business world. I personally don’t see our current feature set as a loss of focus. Do you really disagree? Finally, I’d like to say that we respect all our competition because we know we all share a common goal and dream and all of our systems are founded on ideas that are as old as mankind itself. Opinity and RapLeaf are run by amazing people and our market is big enough for all of us and more. Last time I looked Monster.com has become far more than a simple job board, and linkedIn has become far more than a simple social network for business. They have both added useful features over time tto enhance their services and we intend to do the same. But if you look a little deeper at the features we have released I think you’ll see that we still fully understand the need for focus and integration that make us part of the Web 2.0 movement. Thanks again for the free advice. We still listen with respect, even when we disagree.
Sincerely,
Paul WIlliams – CEO
iKarma Inc.
Peace & Prosperity,
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